EDMONTON – The Garneau neighbourhood is losing some of its most mature trees under a neighbourhood renewal project, which one resident says is a “terrible loss” for her community and the city.

“That’s why we live in these older neighbourhoods: the beautiful canopy that [the trees] provide,” Petra Schulz told CTV News Edmonton.

She was walking her dog earlier in the week when she noticed a tree removal company pull into her neighbourhood, near 76 Avenue and 110 Street.

To make room for a protected bike lane, the street is being converted into a one-way road, explained Ryan Olson, the director of Edmonton’s neighbourhoods planning and design department.

He said 110 Street was selected for a bike lane even before Garneau’s upgrades under the Neighbourhood Renewal Program moved into the planning stage in November 2019.

“We’re always going into communities wanting to do a design that is really for everyone, for people who drive cars, for those who aren’t able to drive cars, for those who wheel. We want to do a design that is inclusive,” he said.

Two years ago, residents were concerned the bike lane would come at the cost of badly needed parking, so the city added parking bays along the street. Several mature trees were removed to make room.

“We try to pick the location that’s going to have the least impact so ideally we can find locations where there aren’t trees at all or maybe smaller trees,” Olson said. “Sometimes there’s older trees that are diseased trees or maybe a tree that’s in decline.”

But Petra says, “To take down trees that are mature and healthy and that really make this neighbourhood is tragic.”

Just under 60 trees will be removed from various parts of the neighbourhood. A total of 137 trees will be planted.

Olson said the new trees will be planted as close as possible to where old trees were removed.  

Most of the work in Garneau under the Neighbourhood Renewal Program is expected to be finished in 2022. 

With a report from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson

EDMONTON –

In the spirit of reconciliation, NorQuest College is selling t-shirts promoting Edmonton’s new Indigenous ward names and directing the proceeds to a bursary for Indigenous students. 

In September 2020, Edmonton city council approved boundary changes to the city’s 12 electoral wards as well as new names, which were chosen by people from the Anishinaabe, Blackfoot, Cree, Dene, Inuit, Iroquois (Michel Band), Métis and Sioux nations.

The 12 shirts NorQuest launched on Thursday feature a graphic design of each new city ward boundary, its name, a pronunciation guide, and information about the word used as the title. 

NorQuest’s manager of business enterprise said the idea originated with Tibetha Kemble, the school’s Indigenous relations manager. 

“How can we create awareness and produce something to make other people aware of this great initiative?” Jackie Nguyen recalled of their conversation. 

NorQuest’s manager of business enterprise, Jackie Nguyen, said the idea was to promote Edmonton’s new ward names and help educate the public about them.

“This was our commitment to reconciliation as NoruQest College. We wanted to raise awareness, education, of this monumental change in the city of Edmonton.”

Nguyen told CTV News Edmonton students have “flocked” to support the initiative, which will funnel proceeds into the Indigenous Legacy Access Bursary. The fund aims to support and improve access to post-secondary education for Indigenous people. 

The shirts, priced at $24.99,will remain on sale year round. 

CANDIDATES PUTTING OUT SHIRTS, TOO

NorQuest’s shirts aren’t the only ones hitting Edmonton streets ahead of the municipal election on Oct. 18. 

Mayoral candidate Cheryl Watson and her campaign team produced merchandise celebrating Edmonton, as did council hopeful Ashley Salvador promoting Ward Métis. 

“Of course we’ve got the standards; we’ve got signs and buttons. But we do have mugs and t-shirts and fanny packs. We also have stickers,” Salvador told CTV News Edmonton. 

“We’ve surprisingly sold a lot of fanny packs, as well, which I find hilarious.”

Her team’s merchandise sports the phrase “River Valley Regular,” or designs of the North Saskatchewan. 

“A lot of effort went into thinking about what is our campaign going to feel like? How do we want to connect with people?” she said. 

“If we are able to find ways to get people engaged that maybe traditionally wouldn’t be involved, that’s a good thing for us.”

EDMONTON – Alberta Health Services says its scientific advisory group has updated its review into using ivermectin to treat COVID-19, warning that existing studies have problems and the available evidence doesn’t deem it safe.

The province’s health delivery agency says in a series of tweets that studies to date into using ivermectin, which is primarily used to treat cases of worms in livestock, on the novel coronavirus have “inadequate controls” and “flawed design.”

The agency also notes the existing studies suffer from bias and small sample sizes, and that some of those previously shared have also been withdrawn due to concerns over fraudulent data.

It says more research is necessary to determine the safety and effectiveness of ivermectin in prevention or treatment of COVID-19.

On Friday, the agency issued a warning about the dangers of ivermectin after a doctor from Vancouver said in a social media post that he’d used the drug to treat three COVID-19 patients while filling in at a rural hospital in Rimbey, Alta. last month.

It says there remains considerable uncertainty if there is any benefit with ivermectin, but there are known harms.

“We urge the public not to misuse any medications in their efforts to avoid or manage COVID-19,” the health agency said in its tweets on Saturday.

“Vaccination remains our best means of preventing COVID-19 at this time.”

The agency has said it will be conducting a review after receiving complaints about the doctor, but he is not scheduled to work again as a replacement in the Alberta health system.

Calls have also increased to Alberta’s poison and drug information service about ivermectin.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 9, 2021.

WASHINGTON — The United States will accept the use by international visitors of COVID-19 vaccines authorized by U.S. regulators or the World Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said late on Friday.

On Sept. 20, the White House announced the United States in November would lift travel restrictions on air travellers from 33 countries including China, India, Brazil and most of Europe who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. It did not specify then which vaccines would be accepted.

A CDC spokeswoman told Reuters Friday, “Six vaccines that are FDA authorized/approved or listed for emergency use by WHO will meet the criteria for travel to the U.S.”

Late on Friday, the CDC said that “earlier this week, to help them prepare their systems we informed airlines” of the vaccines that would be accepted and added “CDC will release additional guidance and information as the travel requirements are finalized.”

Airlines for America, a trade group representing American Airlines Co, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and others, said it was “pleased by the CDC’s decision to approve a list of authorized vaccinations for travellers entering the U.S. We look forward to working with the administration to implement this new global vaccine and testing framework by early November 2021.”

Some countries had pressed the Biden administration to accept WHO-approved vaccines, since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized vaccines are not widely used in all countries.

The United States will admit fully vaccinated air travellers from the 26 so-called Schengen countries in Europe as well as Britain, Ireland, China, India, South Africa, Iran and Brazil. The unprecedented U.S. restrictions have barred most non-U.S. citizens who were in those countries within the past 14 days.

The new COVID-19 vaccine requirements will now apply to nearly all foreign nationals flying to the United States – including those not subject to the prior restrictions.

The CDC must still finalize and publish new contract tracing rules for international visitors, which it sent to the White House for review on Sept. 15.

The CDC must also detail rules for exceptions, which include children not yet eligible for shots, as well as for visitors from countries where vaccines are not widely available. The administration must also decide whether to admit visitors part of COVID-19 clinical trials or have recently contracted COVID-19 and are not yet eligible for vaccination.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)

EDMONTON – One of the frontrunners to become the next mayor of Edmonton has released his donors list – including 1,200 contributors and at least $400,000 raised.

Amarjeet Sohi tweeted the list Friday afternoon.

He did not disclose exact amounts, rather donation levels with a range of cash collected.

Forty people contributed between $2,999 and $5,000, for example.

The inexact accounting means Sohi raised anywhere between $400,000 and $1 million – with 10 days to go before election day.

“This grassroots support is incredible. With your help, team Sohi, I know that we will build an Edmonton for all of us,” he wrote on Twitter.

He added he’ll released a final list on Oct. 17.

Outgoing mayor Don Iveson raised $618,000 in 2013 and $396,000 in 2017, according to publicly-filed disclosures.

Candidate Kim Krushell said she also plans to release her list before election day.

A spokesperson for candidate Cheryll Watson said she’d release her donor list the day before the election.

CTV News Edmonton reached out to other frontrunners Mike Nickel and Michael Oshry about their financial disclosures – but did not immediately receive responses.