Edmonton Headlines: Friday, November 10, 2017

As the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Women and Girls (MMIWG) wrapped up community hearings in Edmonton, the police effort investigating the cases became a centrepiece of the public testimony. 

The Inquiry will be hearing from police, and looking into the systemic faults, racism, sexism, and issues that have brought us to a point where more than one-thousand women (that we officially recognize) have been taken. The community testimony is obviously raising a lot of questions about how much we even know about the cases of women we’re talking about, not to mention many more.

“The inquiry is hearing their stories are not uncommon. It is impossible to know how many others are out there.”

Vanessa Corado told the inquiry she felt alone in her search without the support she had expected from police. “Finally someone will hear my story about my mom.”

Just before the Inquiry came to Edmonton, it released an interim report on its work so far, with 10 recommendations. One of the recommendations was to have federal, provincial and territorial governments fund a national police task force that could re-assess or even re-open investigations into missing and murdered women. 

APTN continues to have extensive coverage of the Inquiry, and will be a good place to keep checking for news and personal stories as the Inquiry continues its work into next year.

We’ve been including the local stories on the Inquiry in our Headlines all week. See what was in the news yesterday.

Change the name

Edmonton’s football team continues to keep its nickname on borrowed time. With the first Indigenous mayor of Winnipeg asking our own mayor to get the CFL team to change its name to something more inclusive, Don Iveson is now saying we should change the name. 

Agree that the team name is a slur against Inuit people or not, the calls to change the name won’t stop.

JUST IN: Heres @ITK_CanadaInuit president Natan Obed’s response to @Mayor_Bowman‘s call for the @EdmontonEsks to change their name

“It is my hope that the team will respect the wishes of Inuit and replace its moniker with a team name that is not widely considered an ethnic slur” pic.twitter.com/UDiYJ7m0DO

— Nick Murray (@NickMurray91) November 8, 2017

City budget

We’ve got our first look at the budget for 2018. Technically, it’s budget adjustments, since the City of Edmonton now operates on a three-year operating budget and it was set back in 2015. But since city council can change stuff up in December, it’s basically a full budget discussion. 

Right now the budget has a 3.6% tax increase for homeowners (about three-times that much for businesses property owners), minimal staff increases, a wage freeze for managers and about $10-million to spend on un-budgeted items and initiatives. 

The 2018 budget will be discussed in detail the first week of December. You can find out more at the City’s budget website, including sending in your own thoughts and comments.

Remembrance Day

There will be many more stories through the weekend, but we’ve already got a few to read for this Remembrance Day. 

Earlier this week the annual No Stone Left Alone effort began, with students placing poppies on the gravestones of soldiers. No Stone Left Alone started here in Edmonton.  

Also earlier this week was Aboriginal Veterans Day, to mark not just the wartime contributions of Indigenous vets but also the oppression they faced when they return(ed) home. 

If you’re reading this before Saturday afternoon, there are a number of events and ceremonies in Edmonton you can attend for this Remembrance Day, all taking place Saturday morning. 

Fertility clinic petition

We were talking earlier this week about the closure of a fertility clinic at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. It’s a private clinic and the Alberta government doesn’t want to be supporting it as a private service (but does not fund these kinds of medical procedures as a public service). People are not happy about this decision, which leaves Edmonton with just one private fertility clinic and a petition to reverse the decision is gather tens of thousands of signatures.

You can find the petition at change.org.

We won’t have Headlines on Monday because of the Remembrance Day weekend. Back on Tuesday.