EDMONTON — After hundreds of students and staff at the University of Alberta (U of A) signed a petition to implement a vaccine mandate, the official opposition is calling on the province to help institutions prepare for a safe return to campus.

The provincial NDP outlined three measures it wants the government to implement to help students and staff return to in-person learning in a safe and sustainable manner after more than a year of online remote learning.

David Eggan, NDP advanced education critic, said the province should create vaccine clinics and rapid testing sites at post-secondary campuses across the province along with providing financial support to post-secondary institutions to cover the costs of enhanced cleaning protocols, personal protective equipment, and sanitizer.

“We need these measures,” Eggan said. “Student learning and student safety should be priorities for the government.

“Students and staff are scared and confused. They are eager to return to classes but they want to do so safely. They also want to avoid further lockdowns altogether.”

The advanced education critic said he has been hearing from students, faculty, and staff from post-secondaries across the province saying they are concerned about the ramifications of eliminating testing, contact tracing, and isolation requirements just as they plan to return to in-person learning.

“In one week’s time, Alberta will be doing none of these things,” Eggan added. “COVID-19 is still present in our communities.

“We know that we still have a great more to do to get more Albertans to two doses of the vaccine,” he said. “Let’s take vaccines directly to the students.”

VOLUNTARY MEASURES AT U OF A CAMPUS

Last week, hundreds of students, faculty, and staff signed an open letter requesting that the province’s largest university implement mandatory vaccinations and masking as the campus plans to return to mostly in-person learning this fall.

The letter, addressed to university administration, cites the need for these measures as the Delta variant has “changed the game,” as it is more transmissible. They want the university to institute rapid testing and also share ventilation and filtration data to help ensure classrooms and lecture halls are safe for students and staff.

In a statement posted to a blog (https://www.ualberta.ca/the-quad/2021/08/your-safety-is-our-top-priority.html) on the University of Alberta’s website Friday, President Bill Flanagan said that the institution is aware it must move forward with the return to campus with care.

“COVID-19 remains a significant threat, particularly to the members of our community who are not yet vaccinated,” Flanagan said. “I appreciate the concerns that so many of you have expressed. This is a challenging time for all of us as we adjust to a rapidly changing environment.”

In terms of masking and ventilation concerns, Flanagan added that non-medical masks are no longer mandatory in the province and that the university’s ventilations systems are safely designed. He said the university could implement a mandatory mask mandate should there be a temporary outbreak.

“The university has continually adapted plans as the situation has evolved,” he said. “Our shared commitment to the wellbeing of the university community will not change.

“With voluntary measures, we will achieve a very high vaccination rate that will provide our best possible protection against COVID-19.”

The president said the U of A’s COVID-19 planning oversight committee recommended to administration against implementing mandatory vaccination, citing “complex” human rights, legal, collective agreement, and privacy obligations.

“As fall term approaches, we are redoubling our efforts to encourage and facilitate vaccinations,” Flanagan said.

THROWING SPAGHETTI AT THE WALL HOPING SOMETHING WILL STICK

Jacob Shelley, Western University associate professor and director of the Health Ethics, Law & Policy Lab, said while Alberta is not unique in its approach of recommending vaccinations for those attending post-secondary, its stance on testing, isolation, and lack of masking are.

Many universities are mandating vaccination for certain high-risk activities, like living in residence or participating in varsity sports.

For Shelley, this distinction between normal campus activities and high-risk ones can be difficult to make.

“It’s hard to know what isn’t high risk in an airborne pandemic,” he said. “It’s perplexing that (universities) seem to be pushing back against the science and the experts.”

It is not clear that in a pandemic, a public emergency, mandating vaccines would be a violation of the charter since it could be justified, the health law expert said. Shelley added that many universities are also concerned about collective agreements and privacy violations.

“It feels like they are throwing spaghetti at the wall trying to hope something will stick,” Shelley said.

Shelley believes part of the hesitation for Alberta post-secondary institutions in implementing stronger public health measures than those at the provincial level is the concern they will lose further funding from the province.

“If a university was to come out and do something that was explicitly against the direction of the government that is a line in the sand that they might not want to draw.”

The health law expert also pointed out that many universities have program specific requirements that require vaccination to participate in.

“If you work with animal populations in a college or university, you are likely required to have a rabies vaccine,” Shelley said. “The chances of getting bit by an animal with rabies are very small, but it is preventative.” 

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Touria Izri

EDMONTON — Albertans will go to the ballot box to answer two referendum questions this fall during municipal elections.

The lieutenant-governor of Alberta officially ordered the referendums on Monday after two order-in-councils were approved.

The referendum questions that Albertans will see on their ballot will be:

• “Should section 36(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982 – Parliament and the government of Canada’s commitment to the principle of making equalization payments – be removed from the constitution?”
• “Do you want Alberta to adopt year-round Daylight Saving Time, which is summer hours, eliminating the need to change our clocks twice a year?”

The questions will be answered by either a “yes” or “no” vote.

According to the order-in-council approving the referendum on daylight saving time, that result will be legally binding.

Some political scientists in Alberta have previously said the referendum on daylight saving time is a “waste of everyone’s time,” and the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association have said they worry the referendums will distract from municipal issues and elections.

EDMONTON — COVID-19 hospitalizations in Alberta continued to rise as the province reported more than a thousand new cases over the weekend. 

Monday’s report includes data from Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

There are now 129 Albertans receiving care for COVID-19 in hospital, the highest number since July 7. There are also 26 patients in intensive care units. 

Active cases now sit as 3,380, about where they were the second week of June. 

There were three new deaths reported Monday, bringing the number of Albertans to have died due to COVID-19 up to 2,328.

Among eligible Albertans, 76.4 per cent have received a first dose and 66.9 per cent have had a second shot.

EDMONTON — The Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) is promoting a pledge ahead of the fall municipal election in the hope of keeping them local and non-partisan.

The AUMA, which represents municipal leaders throughout the province, created the Local Democracy Pledge. It asks candidates to follow four principals:

• Keep local elections local
• Maintain independence and non-partisanship
• Demonstrate transparency
• Engage in respectful behaviour

“There are a lot of important and sometimes very complex issues at the local level that we need the opportunity to discuss and have people ask their candidates the right questions,” said Barry Morishita, the mayor of Brooks and the president of the AUMA.

“When there’s a lot of other noise it’s hard to do that.”

One of the things the association hopes to foster is greater cooperation between members of councils, even when members have opposing views.

“Good ideas don’t come from one place, they come from all over… if you’re part of a slate or backed by a pack that expects you to vote a certain way on certain issues, I think that’s extremely detrimental to local democracy,” said Morishita.

“We all have biases and those are fully recognized, we’re not trying to discourage people’s perspectives, what we’re trying to do is make sure they come to the table with an open mind.”

The AUMA also wants to keep disrespectful behaviour, which it has seen at the provincial and federal levels across the country, out of the municipal level.

“(It doesn’t) provide any opportunities for solutions on what the issue is and that’s what we should be concentrating on,” said Morishita.

“We think the municipal level of government is the most accountable, it’s closest to the people and it is, I think, the most collaborative and we want to maintain that.”

The province does require candidates to disclose information on donations their campaigns receive, which the AUMA agrees with, according to Morishita.

“But they don’t have to do it until March,” said Morishita.

“If they (candidates) can disclose prior to the election, in a draft form, some of their contributors and how they’re spending money, we think that helps… and lets people know what we’re doing.”

Morishita added that the goal of the pledge isn’t to be a political tool, it’s just there to help candidates and voters.

“It should be an earnest, thoughtful consideration for how to conduct yourself,” said Morishita.

EDMONTON — A series of self-defence classes by women for women is once again being offered in Edmonton after hate-motivated crimes and incidents in the region.

Al Rashid Mosque is hosting classes introductory self-defence classes for women in August to help them feel safer when being in the community. For instructors Janan Jomha and Kaitlyn Molo, the hope is the skills the women learn never need to be used.

“We want people to feel safe,” Jomha said. “We want people to have the confidence to be in the community and feel like they belong. That’s what we should strive to do, especially here in Canada.

“First we teach them to use their voice, be vocal and try to de-escalate them before they become physical,” she added. “We focus a lot on body language, using our voice and using the community’s voice to shut down threatening situations.

“The goal of self-defence is to feel safe.”

Molo said many participants told them that they feel more comfortable and confident in themselves after completing the introductory training.

“We got really great feedback,” she said. “After they took that course many people said they felt more confident to go into their community spaces.”

The pair of instructors, based out of Elite Taekwondo Edmonton, say the number of women signing up for their self-defence classes is increasing. Jomha said many mothers and daughters are attending classes together so both learn self-defence skills to help each other.

Both of them believe the increase in the number of racially motivated incidents in the city is the reason for the uptake Jessica Snow, a participant in Sunday’s class, said she agreed.

“With all that’s in the news – visual minorities getting attacked, in many cases, they are women as well – more than ever there is a need to have that knowledge,” Snow said. “To have those tools in the back of your pocket.

“I think it’s always been something that’s been a good idea regardless of what age you are, but perhaps more so than ever today.”

Snow said she felt empowered by attending the class, especially since she was learning alongside fellow sisters.

“It’s good to know that you are not alone,” she added. “It creates a little bit of that community.”

Police continue to investigate a June attack in St. Albert where a masked man pushed two Muslim women to the ground while wielding a knife.

A Gurdwara in Mill Woods came forward a few weeks later saying they were receiving offensive deliveries of meat products to their place of worship and escalating threatening phone calls.

In June, Edmonton police told CTV News Edmonton that merely halfway through 2021, the city had already seen 44 hate-motivated incidents compared to 60 and 57 in the entirety of 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Ultimately, Molo said while training is important and helpful it can’t solve every situation or incident.

“No amount of time or techniques can really truly prepare us for being a victim of a race-based or violent attack,” Molo said. “What we really do like to focus on is utilizing your voice to be assertive and concise and short with an attacker so you aren’t an easy target to them.”