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Alberta

Book of poetry about healing journey. Proceeds shared with sexual assault centre

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Submitted by the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Centre 

She Was – Book of poetry speaks to healing journey

Local author releases book in support of CASASC

Local artist and mental health advocate Sabrina Samuel has released a book of poetry with a portion of proceeds supporting the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre (CASASC).

The book She Was is inspired by Samuel’s healing journey, with each poem telling the story of incredible women along the path.

“The work illustrates our dynamic power, but also our humanity,” said Samuel. “Women are multi-dimensional. My hope for the book is that it will be an agent for positive change, celebration, collaboration and discussion. I’m deeply grateful for the help I received from CASASC, so I wanted to partner with them.”

The launch of She Was coincides with Sexual Violence Awareness Month (SVAM) in the month of May and leads up to Mother’s Day.

Samuel said all art is a response to something.

“When you use metaphor to address pain, you can reach people differently,” she said. “I understand fully that racialized women are the most vulnerable to abuse, harassment and assault. I don’t want to be a statistic. This work has shown me I’m owning more of my story each day by drawing strength from my feminine influences.”

She Was is available for purchase in-person at Cheeky Couture’s Boutique on Gasoline Alley, Housewarmings in downtown Red Deer, at the CASASC main office or by emailing [email protected]

Copies are $20 each with 50 per cent of the proceeds supporting CASASC. A $5 delivery fee will be charged to orders outside of Red Deer.

She Was has been selected by Lloydminster and Vermillion for Equity’s Monthly Book Club for May 2 at 2 p.m. Samuel will also be a guest on Coffee Chat with CASASC on May 6 at 10:30 a.m. on CASASC’s Instagram page (@CASASC3).

Samuel is hosting the She Was Author’s Launch on Friday, April 30 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. The launch will feature a reading, input from other readers, a Q & A segment, door prizes and giveaways.

For more information about She Was visit facebook.com/surrenderliving or www.surrenderliving.com

Readers are encouraged to participate in the She Was challenge by selecting a poem from the book and recording themselves reading it on Facebook or Instagram. Dedicate the post to a great woman and tag them to do the same. Tag @surrenderliving and use the hashtag #shewas to be entered into the challenge. The winner will be selected at the end of SVAM.

Join the conversation for the month by using the hashtag #SVAM for Sexual Violence Awareness Month. Help us eliminate sexual violence in our community by creating a culture of respect.

CASASC is a voluntary, non-profit organization serving the Central Alberta region under the direction of a community-based Board of Directors. CASASC educates, supports and empowers individuals, families and communities regarding all aspects of sexual violence.

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Alberta

Alberta gov’t initiates bill to make sex-ed optional, stop schools from hiding pronoun changes

Published on

From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

The Education Amendment Act requires parents to opt in rather than opt out of sex education and mandates that schools seek parental permission to use a different pronoun for their child.

Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) government officially introduced a bill that will change the law so that parents must “opt in rather than opt out” their children into sexual education lessons and also mandate that parental permission is obtained before a student uses a different pronoun.

Late last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced Bill 27, or the Education Amendment Act, that focuses on teaching and instructional material “that deal primarily and explicitly with gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality.”

The new bill means sexual education classes will not be included in a child’s education, and teachers or school staff will no longer be allowed to conceal whether a student begins to use different pronouns or names.

Once Bill 27 becomes law, schools must notify parents of what is being taught at least “30 days in advance and be given the opportunity to opt in rather than opt out of this instruction,” the government said regarding the bill in a press release.

“This new model would ensure parents are notified in advance and have the information needed to make an informed decision on whether specific topics are appropriate and fit the needs of their child and family,” the government said.

Smith’s government said the change aims to create “transparency in what is being taught in the classroom to ensure parents have the opportunity to identify if there is a particular subject matter they wish to supplement in conversations with their child outside of the classroom.”

Alberta Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides had earlier stated that such a bill would be forthcoming, noting the changes the government is proposing will “keep families informed while navigating complex conversations as well as public health and states of emergency.”

Bill 27 also will empower the education minister to in effect stop the spread of extreme forms of pro-LGBT ideology or anything else to be allowed to be taught in schools via third parties.

The government says the new law will allow the minister to “approve learning and teaching resources and external presenters for topics dealing primarily and explicitly with gender identity, sexual orientation or human sexuality.”

“This would create greater transparency on what resources are being used to teach sensitive topics, which third-parties are presenting to students, and provide greater assurance that learning and teaching resources are appropriate and relevant to the curriculum,” the government says.

The new law will also mandate that schools notify parents and seek “their consent for a student 15 years old and under if they request that school staff refer to them by a new gender-related preferred name or pronouns at school.”

It would also mandate that schools notify parents of a “16 or 17-year-old student’s request for school staff to refer to them by a new gender-related preferred name or pronouns at school.”

Smith’s announcement regarding pronouns and sex-ed classes comes at the same time she brought forth a law that will ban biological men from competing in women’s sports. It also comes after she introduced a much-anticipated bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.

Last weekend, thousands of UCP members gathered for the party’s annual general meeting, where Smith won a 91.5 percent approval rating, indicating there is strong support for her pro-family policies.

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Alberta

For second year in a row, Alberta oil and gas companies spend more than required on cleanup

Published on

From the Canadian Energy Center

By Grady Semmens

$923 million spent cleaning up inactive wells, sites and pipelines in 2023

As a business owner, Ryan Smith values few things more than predictability when it comes to the oil and gas market and the demand for his company’s services.

That’s why knowing that next year in Alberta, the regulator requires at least $750 million worth of work cleaning up inactive oil and gas wells and other legacy energy infrastructure is tremendously helpful for the CEO of Calgary-based 360 Engineering & Environmental Consulting.

“Having a minimum spend in place for the province makes the market more predictable and consistent, which in turn helps our clients and our business plan for the future, which is a good thing,” says Smith, whose company has completed more than 5,000 site closure activities in Canada and internationally since 2015.

“Site closure has really emerged as a growth market over the last decade, especially in Western Canada where the regulatory systems for oil and gas are more advanced than anywhere else we are exposed to. It is an integral part of the energy lifecycle, and if it is done well it adds a lot of value to the industry.”

The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) introduced an industry-wide minimum “closure” spending requirement in 2022, part of Alberta’s Inventory Reduction Program to accelerate the remediation of inactive oil and gas wells, facilities and pipelines across the province.

The mandatory quota determines the minimum level of work a company must conduct primarily to decommission and reclaim a proportion of its inactive inventory.

Inactive wells are defined as those that have not been used for six months or a year, depending on what they are being used for. When a company decides that they will not reactivate an inactive well they decommission it through a process called abandonment.

A well is considered successfully abandoned after it is cleaned, plugged with cement, cut to a minimum of one meter below the surface and covered with a vented cap. After abandonment comes remediation and reclamation, where the land around the well is returned to the equivalent of its original state.

The first two years under the new rules saw Alberta’s energy industry significantly exceed the minimum closure requirements.

In 2022, companies spent more than $696 million, about 65 per cent more than the initial threshold of $422 million. The AER increased the minimum spend to $700 million in 2023, which producers surpassed by 22 per cent with total expenditures of $923 million.

The 2024 minimum remains at $700 million, while in July the regulator announced that the minimum spend for 2025 was raised to $750 million.

This closure work does not include remediation of oil sands mining sites, which is handled under the Mine Financial Security Program, nor does it include the closure of orphan wells (wells without a legal owner) managed by the industry-funded Orphan Well Association.

Gurpreet Lail, CEO of Enserva, an industry association representing energy service companies, suppliers and manufacturers, says there was an initial rush of closure work when the quotas were first put in place, but activity has since become more even as companies develop long-term closure plans.

“A lot of the low-lying fruit has been taken care of, so now companies are working on more complex closure files that take more time and more money,” Lail says.

Facility owners say that Alberta’s rules provide direction for planning closure and remediation work, which in the past may have been put on hold due to the ups and downs of the oil and gas market.

“When commodity prices are up, everyone is focused on drilling more wells and when prices are down, budgets are strained for doing work that doesn’t bring in revenue. Having a minimum spend makes sure closure work happens every year and ensures there is longer-term progress,” says Deborah Borthwick, asset retirement coordinator for Birchcliff Energy, an oil and natural gas producer focused in Alberta.

Over the last few years, Birchcliff has budgeted more than $3 million for annual facility closure work, far above its required minimum spend.

The company completed 11 well abandonments and decommissioned 23 facilities and pipelines in 2022, according to its latest environmental, social and governance report.

Borthwick says having the closure quota for 2025 already set has allowed it to plan ahead and line up the necessary service companies well in advance for next year’s remediation work.

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