EDMONTON – With the municipal election less than one month away, Edmontonians will see some familiar names and faces among the candidates, but the ward names and their boundaries are different this time around.

Approved by a council vote in 2020, the ward names are Indigenous and were carefully selected by a panel of 17 women.

The committee was made up of representatives from First Nations in Alberta Treaty areas numbered 6, 7 and 8, as well as members of the Métis and Inuit communities.

The women represented the Anishinaabe, Blackfoot, Cree, Dene, Inuit, Iroquois (Michel Band), Métis and Sioux nations.

Here are the new names they picked — what they mostly used to be, since the lines have moved — and what they represent:

Pronounced: NA-KOH-TAH EE-SKA

This name honours the Alexis Nakota Sioux people who settled in the area in 1880. Nakota Isga refers to the Siouan language family, according to the naming committee.

Pronounced: A-NIRK-NIK

Anirniq is an Inuktitut word meaning “Breath of Life.” It honours the Inuit people, many of whom were flown from the north to Edmonton in the 1950s and 60s for tuberculosis treatment. Anirniq was recommended because TB took the breath and spirit of many Indigenous people, the naming group said.

Pronounced: TASS-TAW-WIN-EE-WOK

This Cree word for “the in-between people” refers to the LGBTQ2S+ community. The Cree worldview recognized eight genders, and each person chose where they belonged and was free to move between roles as they wished, the committee said.

Pronounced: DEH-NEH

Dene refers to various tribes and people that settled along the North Saskatchewan River and who live there now. The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, the Cold Lake First Nations and the Dene Tha First Nations are Dene communities in Alberta.

Pronounced: OH-DAY-MIN

An Anishinaabe word that means “strawberry” or “heart berry” referring to the centre of Edmonton. Anishinaabe people live across Canada, including in the O’Chiese First Nation near Rocky Mountain House.

Pronounced: MAY-TEA

A Michif word, it was chosen because Metis people developed farms near the river in this area. The shape and position of the city lots still reflect that. Métis people originated in Canada in the 1700s as European men married Indigenous women, forming a distinct culture.

Pronounced: SEE-PEE-WIN-EE-WOK

This Cree name honours the “River Cree” people of the Enoch Cree Nation. More than 2,500 members of this nation still live just west of this ward.

Pronounced: PAH-PAH-STAY-OH

Papastew, which translates to “large woodpecker,” honours the leader of the Papaschase Band. According to the city record, the federal government forced the band to surrender its land south of the North Saskatchewan River after 1880. Surviving members of the band are still working to reclaim their community and land.

Pronounced: PEE-HAY-SOO-WIN

A Cree word that means Land of The Thunderbirds, this name was chosen because the naming committee decided the aerial view of the ward is shaped like a thunderbird. Pihesiwin are culturally significant to many Indigenous cultures and represent “power and reverence” in Cree.

Pronounced: E-PEE-OK-KA-NEE-PIU-TSI-YA

A Blackfoot word that honours traditional grounds where bison were harvested. The Blackfoot (Nitsitapi) people primarily lived in southern Alberta, and many nations are still centred there, but they also migrated north to the Edmonton area as they followed bison.

Pronounced: GAR-EE-HE-O

Named after a Mohawk word that means “a tall, beautiful forest,” this ward honours Michael Karhiio, Chief of the Michel Band. The Michel First Nation first settled in the Lac Ste Anne area but due to an “involuntary enfranchisement” in 1958, members continue to fight for land today, the committee said.

Pronounced: SS-POH-ME-TAH-PEE

This Blackfoot word translates to “star person” and the name was given to the Iron Creek Meteorite or the Manitou Stone once located near Viking, Alta. Blackfoot people believe this fallen star was given by the Creator to help them have a “reciprocal relationship” with bison, the naming committee wrote.

For more on the warn names and the naming committee, visit the City of Edmonton website.

EDMONTON – The head of emergency medicine for the Alberta Medical Association, Dr. Paul Parks, says major components of triage have already begun in Alberta – an assertion disputed by the province.

The dispute arose Friday as the Canadian Armed Forces prepared to bring in air transport and staff to deal with a COVID-19 crisis overwhelming Alberta’s hospitals.

The province has yet to formally invoke the triage policy, which would see doctors have to make on-the-spot decisions over who gets life-saving resources.

But Parks said it has become routine in hospitals in the last two weeks to have some critically ill patients – most of them unvaccinated COVID-19 cases – kept on main wards rather than in intensive care units on ventilators because they don’t have the available intensive care ward staff.

That’s on top of previously announced mass cancellations of surgeries, along with patient transfers, as doctors balance medical needs with available space, he said.

“We already are in positions in many hospitals across Alberta where the doctors know that it would be best for this patient to be in ICU and be on a ventilator, but we’re not providing that option until they absolutely deteriorate to the point of crashing,” Parks said Friday.

“We already are implementing some of these things that are drastic, and we wish we never would have.

“People will suffer and will die by this.”

Alberta Health Services said in a statement: “We acknowledge that we are operating at a reduced standard of care, however, safety remains at the forefront of all decisions.

“Any patient who requires mechanical ventilation is currently able to receive it.”

Parks said it’s not at the point where doctors must make on-the-spot, life-and-death decisions. But he said that’s not far away and, when it comes, the second stage of triage will follow quickly, including making those same decisions about children.

Alberta Health Services said triage will only be invoked if all efforts to increase intensive care capacity are exhausted.

There are 368 intensive care spaces with 304 patients, most of whom are critically ill with COVID-19, and most of them unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

Alberta normally has 173 intensive care spaces but has been converting other spaces, including operating rooms, into ad hoc critical care wards to meet COVID-19 demand.

Alberta has more than 20,000 active COVID-19 cases and is seeing well over 1,000 new cases a day.

Dr. Verna Yiu, head of Alberta Health Services, said Thursday a key reason intensive care wards have not been overwhelmed is because enough COVID-19 patients are dying to free up bed space.

The number of COVID-19 deaths has been on the rise.

There were 29 fatalities reported Tuesday, 20 more Wednesday and 17 Thursday. More than 2,600 people have died in Alberta since the pandemic began.

Premier Jason Kenney has asked other provinces and the federal government for emergency aid.

Andrew McKelvey, a spokesman with the Department of National Defence, said Friday that they have been asked to provide up to eight intensive care nurses, along with air transport for patients to other health facilities in Canada.

The air transport should be ready to go in 24 hours and the nurses within 72 hours, said McKelvey.

Parks and other physicians, meanwhile, are urging Kenney to put in a “firebreak” to reverse the slew of new infections, starting with shutting down schools and banning mass gatherings, such as sports events.

“The (political) decision-makers upstream are not doing what they need to do to stop case transmission,” said Dr. Shazma Mithani, an Edmonton emergency room physician.

“We can’t keep going like this. Health care and ICU capacity is a finite resource.

“The only way to stop the influx of patients into the hospitals is to stop the cases, and that has to happen with restrictions – and it is not happening.”

Dr. Tehseen Ladha, an Edmonton pediatrician, said it makes no sense for Alberta to ask for federal help while refusing to impose serious health restrictions, particularly as cases among children rise.

“This is the worst it’s ever been,” said Ladha. “We’re seeing the rise in cases amongst the (age) five-to-11 group go up faster than any other age group. The curve is almost vertical.”

Dr. David Keegan, a Calgary family physician, said while critical cases grow, so does the collateral damage of thousands of delayed surgeries.

Keegan said one of his patients needs cancer surgery, but the operation has been delayed.

“It means by the time surgery happens you never know, (the cancer) may have spread,” he said.

“Suddenly we go from this person with an easily treatable removable cancer to it has spread and we’re into added-on chemotherapy and potentially radiation.”

Dr. Ilan Schwartz, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Alberta, said targeted public health measures and a vaccine passport may have worked a month ago.

But he said only a hard lockdown with a shutdown of schools and on-essential businesses can now stop the crisis at its source – high caseloads.

“It’s absurd that we have (hospital) wards that are full, we are cancelling cancer surgeries, we’re calling for the military, we’re talking about transporting patients 3,000 kilometres in order for them to find an ICU bed and we still have society going on as if nothing is the matter.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2021.

OTTAWA / TORONTO — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says China has released detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou and U.S. Justice Department officials reached a deal to resolve the criminal charges against her and a B.C. judge discharged the extradition matter.

Speaking during a press conference late Friday night, Trudeau said Kovrig and Spavor boarded a plane in China at about 7:30 p.m. EDT with Canada’s Ambassador to China Dominic Barton. He said the plane has since left Chinese airspace and “they’re on the way home.”

“These two men have gone through an unbelievably difficult ordeal. For the past 1,000 days they have shown strife, perseverance, resilience, and grace — and we are all inspired by that,” Trudeau said.

“I want to thank their families who’ve been there for them, supporting them in every way they could, and supporting in the work we’ve done to secure their release,” he added.

Trudeau also thanked the “countless” Canadian diplomatic officials who have “tirelessly” worked over the past two and a half years to secure the release of Kovrig and Spavor, as well as the country’s allies who “stood steadfast in solidarity with Canada.”

“Finally, I want to thank Canadians who have kept them in our thoughts and remain determined in the core value that Canadians have of standing up for each other and looking out for each other,” Trudeau said. “These two men have been through an unbelievably difficult situation, but it is inspiring, and it is good news for all of us that they are on their way home to their families.”

The two Canadians have been in Chinese custody for 1,019 days on espionage charges that were largely viewed as a retaliatory response to Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a U.S. warrant related to the company’s business dealings in Iran. However, China’s has consistently denied that the cases were in any way connected.

Both of the Canadians stood trial in China, and Spavor had been handed down an 11-year sentence, while Kovrig had yet to be sentenced before their release.

Earlier on Friday, a B.C. judge discharged the extradition matter against Meng after U.S. Justice Department officials reached a deal to resolve the criminal charges against her, allowing Meng, who has been at the centre of a years-long major geopolitical case, to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement and leave Canada, under certain terms.

Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes signed the order of discharge in Meng’s extradition case on Friday afternoon, allowing her to leave the country and ending the nearly three-year legal saga.

CTV News confirmed that Meng checked in at Vancouver International Airport and departed on a flight to China Friday evening.

Holmes thanked Meng for her behaviour during the hearing and released her from bail conditions.

Speaking outside the courthouse to reporters, Meng thanked Holmes for her “fairness” during the proceedings, as well as her lawyers, family and friends for helping her through this “tough time.”

“I also appreciate the Crown for their professionalism, and the Canadian government for upholding the rule of law,” Meng said. “I’m also grateful to the Canadian people and media friends for your tolerance. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.”

Over the past nearly three years, Meng said her life has been “turned upside down.”

“It was a disruptive time for me as a mother, a wife, and a company executive. But it really was an invaluable experience in my life. I will never forget all the good wishes I’ve received from people around the world. As the saying goes, the greater the difficulty, the greater the growth,” Meng said.

Meng — who is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei — has been under house arrest in Vancouver since she was first taken into custody at Vancouver International Airport in December 2018 on a U.S. warrant related to the company’s business dealings in Iran.

Facing charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud, Meng has claimed her innocence throughout the process, and had been fighting the extradition through Canadian courts.

The discharge of the extradition matter comes after the Chinese telecom giant CFO appeared virtually in a New York courtroom Friday morning and pled “not guilty” to all charges and a U.S. judge signed off on a deferred prosecution agreement.

“Meng made multiple material misrepresentations to a senior executive of a financial institution regarding Huawei’s business operations in Iran in an effort to preserve Huawei’s banking relationship with the financial institution… Meng’s admissions confirm the crux of the government’s allegations in the prosecution of this financial fraud,” read the statement, which details at length the agreed statement of facts in the case.

The judge allowed the release of Meng on a personal recognizance bond, with the charges against her set to be dismissed pending good behaviour, as of Dec. 1, 2022, four years to the day when she was taken into custody at Vancouver International Airport in 2018.

“Meng also has agreed not to commit other federal, state or local crimes. If Meng breaches the agreement, she will be subject to prosecution of all the charges against her in the third superseding indictment filed in this case,” read the statement.

Following the ruling in B.C., Canada’s Department of Justice issued a statement confirming that the U.S. had dropped its extradition request.

“As a result, there is no basis for the extradition proceedings to continue and the Minister of Justice’s delegate has withdrawn the Authority to Proceed, ending the extradition proceedings. The judge released Meng Wanzhou from all of her bail conditions. Meng Wanzhou is free to leave Canada,” the statement read.

The Department of Justice said “Canada is a rule of law country” and that Meng was “afforded a fair process before the courts in accordance with Canadian law.”

Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s National Security Division Mark J. Lesko said in a statement that the U.S. is “enormously grateful” to Canada’s Department of Justice for its “dedicated work on this extradition and for its steadfast adherence to the rule of law.”

Meng’s lawyer said in a statement following the decision in the U.S. that he was “very pleased” with the deal reached.

“We fully expect the indictment will be dismissed with prejudice after fourteen months. Now, she will be free to return home to be with her family,” said William W. Taylor, III.

Canadian officials acting on the U.S. request to detained Meng inflamed diplomatic tensions between Canada and China in 2018, and over the years relations have been considerably strained, resulting in a series of trade actions, and a rallying of international allies in condemnation of China’s bucking of international rule of law.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had previously shot down suggestions that Canada should consider exchanging the two Canadians for Meng, citing the need for the matter to work its way through the legal system.

This came after a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry suggested in 2020 that Canada halting its attempt to extradite Meng could affect the fates of Kovrig and Spavor, a departure from China’s consistent denials that the cases were related.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday endorsed booster shots for millions of older or otherwise vulnerable Americans, opening a major new phase in the U.S vaccination drive against COVID-19.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed off on a series of recommendations from a panel of advisers late Thursday.

The advisers said boosters should be offered to people 65 and older, nursing home residents and those ages 50 to 64 who have risky underlying health problems. The extra dose would be given once they are at least six months past their last Pfizer shot.

However, Walensky decided to make one recommendation that the panel had rejected.

The panel on Thursday voted against saying that people can get a booster if they are ages 18 to 64 years and are health-care workers or have another job that puts them at increased risk of being exposed to the virus.

But Walensky disagreed and put that recommendation back in, noting that such a move aligns with an FDA booster authorization decision earlier this week. The category she included covers people who live in institutional settings that increase their risk of exposure, such as prisons or homeless shelters, as well as health care workers.

The panel had offered the option of a booster for those ages 18 to 49 who have chronic health problems and want one. But the advisers refused to go further and open boosters to otherwise healthy front-line health care workers who aren’t at risk of severe illness but want to avoid even a mild infection.

The panel voted 9 to 6 to reject that proposal. But Walensky decided to disregard the advisory committee’s counsel on that issue. In a decision several hours after the panel adjourned, Walensky issued a statement saying she had restored the recommendation.

“As CDC Director, it is my job to recognize where our actions can have the greatest impact,” Walensky said in a statement late Thursday night. “At CDC, we are tasked with analyzing complex, often imperfect data to make concrete recommendations that optimize health. In a pandemic, even with uncertainty, we must take actions that we anticipate will do the greatest good.”

Experts say getting the unvaccinated their first shots remains the top priority, and the panel wrestled with whether the booster debate was distracting from that goal.

All three of the COVID-19 vaccines used in the U.S. are still highly protective against severe illness, hospitalization and death, even with the spread of the extra-contagious delta variant. But only about 182 million Americans are fully vaccinated, or just 55% of the population.

“We can give boosters to people, but that’s not really the answer to this pandemic,” said Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot of Vanderbilt University. “Hospitals are full because people are not vaccinated. We are declining care to people who deserve care because we are full of unvaccinated COVID-positive patients.”

Thursday’s decision represented a dramatic scaling back of the Biden administration plan announced last month to dispense boosters to nearly everyone to shore up their protection. Late Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration, like the CDC panel, signed off on Pfizer boosters for a much narrower slice of the population than the White House envisioned.

The booster plan marks an important shift in the nation’s vaccination drive. Britain and Israel are already giving a third round of shots over strong objections from the World Health Organization that poor countries don’t have enough for their initial doses.

Walensky opened Thursday’s meeting by stressing that vaccinating the unvaccinated remains the top goal “here in America and around the world.”

Walensky acknowledged that the data on who really needs a booster right away “are not perfect.” “Yet collectively they form a picture for us,” she said, “and they are what we have in this moment to make a decision about the next stage in this pandemic.”

The CDC panel stressed that its recommendations will be changed if new evidence shows more people need a booster.

The CDC advisers expressed concern over the millions of Americans who received Moderna or Johnson & Johnson shots early in the vaccine rollout. The government still hasn’t considered boosters for those brands and has no data on whether it is safe or effective to mix-and-match and give those people a Pfizer shot.

“I just don’t understand how later this afternoon we can say to people 65 and older, `You’re at risk for severe illness and death, but only half of you can protect yourselves right now,”‘ said Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University.

About 26 million Americans got their last Pfizer dose at least six months ago, about half of whom are 65 or older. It’s not clear how many more would meet the CDC panel’s booster qualifications.

CDC data show the vaccines still offer strong protection against serious illness for all ages, but there is a slight drop among the oldest adults. And immunity against milder infection appears to be waning months after people’s initial immunization.

For most people, if you’re not in a group recommended for a booster, “it’s really because we think you’re well-protected,” said Dr. Matthew Daley of Kaiser Permanente Colorado.

Public health experts not involved in Thursday’s decision said it is unlikely people seeking third doses at a drugstore or other site will be required to prove they qualify.

Even with the introduction of boosters, someone who has gotten just the first two doses would still be considered fully vaccinated, according to the CDC’s Dr. Kathleen Dooling. That is an important question to people in parts of the country where you need to show proof of vaccination to eat in a restaurant or enter other places of business.

Among people who stand to benefit from a booster, there are few risks, the CDC concluded. Serious side effects from the first two Pfizer doses are exceedingly rare, including heart inflammation that sometimes occurs in younger men. Data from Israel, which has given nearly 3 million people — mostly 60 and older — a third Pfizer dose, has uncovered no red flags.

The U.S. has already authorized third doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for certain people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients. Other Americans, healthy or not, have managed to get boosters, in some cases simply by asking.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content

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EDMONTON – Two men were rushed to hospital after an apparent drive-by shooting in south Edmonton Thursday night.

One of the men died from his injuries.

The other injured man was expected to survive, a police officer at the scene told CTV News Edmonton.

It happened just after 9 p.m. on 23 Avenue, just west of Calgary Trail.

Police said a motive was not immediately clear and would not confirm if it was a drive-by shooting.

The southwest division staff sergeant told CTV News that police had not made any arrests.

Officers were still searching for a suspect and the car they were in at 10:30 p.m.

A four-door car could be seen with at least one smashed window and several bullet holes in the driver’s door.

Homicide detectives and forensics were called to the roadway, which police said would be closed for several hours.

This is a breaking news story and more information will be added as it becomes available.