Peace region residents are invited to take part in a conversation about workforce development in rural Alberta later this week. The Alberta Rural Development Network is hosting the forum, which will include a full day of speakers, a panel discussion with Alberta’s Labour Minister Thomas Lukaszuk, culminating in a workshop for participants to share ideas and solutions. ARDN Executive Director Dee Ann Bernard says they plan to identify some possible projects from that workshop discussion.

“So we’re going to invite everybody there to come to this little session at the end to identify what they think are the priorities in workforce development, and we’re actually committing to taking all the proceeds from the conference, and using them to seed at least one of those projects for the future.”

Registration for the forum is $75 a person, and can be done online at www.ardn.ca.

The County of Grande Prairie is investing 45-thousand dollars in eradicating any traces of Mountain Pine Beetle from Evergreen Park. Part of that funding also goes towards ongoing prevention. Jerry Bauer with the Firesmart Program says there are roughly one hundred to two hundred trees in the park that need to be removed.

“And they will be taken down, cut up, and burnt. Then we’ll put up 2700, maybe 3000 pouches. Those pouches are Verbenone, and basically we’re trying to trick the beetle that those trees have already been attacked by other beetles, and they’ll go someplace else.”

Bauer says they will also continue clearing dead pine trees in the Wapiti Sand Dunes this year, an area where 60-80% of pine trees have been infested, creating a considerable fire hazard.

The Swanavon School Council is campaigning for a new crosswalk south of the school to help make student’s daily commute a little bit safer. There is a crosswalk to the north of the school near the main door’s, but Principal Corinne Kruse says as their student population grows, the need for a second crosswalk on the south side has become apparent.

“We’ve got more parents that are trying to drop their children off for school, we’ve got little pre-schoolers that attend, we’ve got kindergarten kids. So we’ve got a really large population of really small kids in our building, and not having the crosswalk makes it a little tricky.”

Kruse says having a designated crosswalk would also create more awareness and force drivers to pay closer attention. Swanavon School Council will meet tomorrow at 7 pm to discuss the issue further.

Over the next six months, the Grande Prairie Catholic School Board is going to be taking part in some panel discussions with other school boards in the province. Superintendent Karl German says they’ve been asked to provide some help and assistance to other school boards whose language arts and literacy rates need some improvement.

“There were a few of us that were called to a panel to try and provide ideas and solutions because we are achieving results higher than what would normally be expected, so we’re very pleased to be called to that panel because really it doesn’t matter where the students are from, we want them all to benefit and have higher Language Arts rates and literacy rates, and math scores.”

The Grande Prairie Catholic School District is one of three in Alberta that has Grade 3 and 6 results in Language arts above the provincial average.

Meanwhile, the district has received another accolade, this time for their work in pre-kindergarten programming. They’ve been nominated for the 2014 Child Development Professional Award of Excellence.

Germann says districts across the province have modeled their pre-kindergarten programming after strategies and techniques being used in their classrooms in Sexsmith, Grande Prairie, and Spirit River.

“Some of the work that we’ve done has really benefited kids when they come into our system, so we’re really pleased with our staff who are really doing a great job to help kids out, and the kids really end up benefiting out of this area.”

Young people in Grande Prairie have spoken, and named the best youth employer, youth friendly business, and engaging organization in the city. Yesterday was the first ever Youth Engagement Awards.

AHS Addictions and Mental Health Services was named the most youth friendly business in the community. Mental Health Therapist Nicole Marshall says the program works with young people of all ages on things like addictions, emotional and physical health, depression, anxiety and learning disorders. She says it greats to see those kids now taking an active role in the community.

“Once they’ve been in the other chair and sort of, been the recipient of support and encouragement and advocacy, they often decide they want to do that and find a way to make their own difference in the world, so it’s pretty neat.”

The John Howard Society’s Tabono Centre received the Community Engagement Award. April Tranter is a program coordinator for the strength based learning centre that provides life skills training for at risk youth.

“I would say the biggest honour is the fact that our youth nominated our program, so that was huge, and we’re very grateful for that, so is the fact that we won, I’m really excited to take this back and show them.”

The Eastlink Centre was named the Youth Employer of Choice. Lauren Kemp is the Child & Youth Acting Supervising Manager for the facility. She says the award is very exciting, and a bit of an eye opener for them.

“For the past year we’ve been talking about how to get more youth in our facility for things to do, and then all of a sudden we get this award, and we’re like, wait a second, we do have the youth in our facility and it’s our employees that we’re catering to!”

The Youth Engagement Awards are a new part of Grande Prairie’s Youth Week celebrations, which run from May 1-7.

The opening of the new Odyssey House Supportive Housing Project could come as early as this time next year, now that construction is underway.

Dignitaries from across the Peace Region were in attendance today to mark the ground breaking of the much needed, 14 suite apartment style facility.

Currently, the Odyssey House can only provide shelter for women and children for a 21 day period, as mandated by the province.

Cliff Turner, Grande Prairie Women’s Residence Association President, says for many 21 one days is just not enough time to get back on their feet, and as a result, he has seen women cycle back into the shelter a dozen times or more in some cases.

“If you’ve never had a credit rating, if you’ve never rented a house, you can’t go to a landlord who has his choice of 40 people, they won’t rent to you. Even if they would rent to you, you’re not sure if you can afford to pay what they want, so what do you do? If you’re from out of town and you don’t have family that’s going to back you up, you have to go back to where you were”

Turner says the hope is that the supportive housing, which will provide longer term shelter, will help victims of domestic violence stop the cycle of abuse and dependence and create a solid foundation on which to support themselves and their children.

The 4.7 million dollar project is still couple hundred thousand dollars short on funding, but Turner says he is confident they will fill in the gap within the next couple of months.

Pictured: Beaverlodge Councillor Wendy Olson-Lepchuk, Sexsmith Mayor Claude Lagace, County of Grande Prairie Reeve Leanne Beaupre, Mr. Everett McDonald, MLA Grande Prairie-Smoky, the Honourable Wayne Drysdale, Minister of Transportation and MLA Grande Prairie-Wapiti, GPWRA President Cliff Turner, GPWRA Executive Director Jasmin Greavett, Peace River MP Chris Warkentin, City of Grande Prairie Mayor Bill Given, MD of Greenview Deputy Reeve Tom Burton, Wembley Mayor Chris Turnmire, Hythe Councillor Gordon Nicholson

Increasing awareness of accessibility in Grande Prairie is the 4th annual Chair Leaders Enabling Access event. Prominent city figures are spending the day in a wheel chair, experiencing the barriers that a person with disabilities goes through on a daily basis. Mayor Bill Given says this event reminds elected officials like himself that the decisions they make at a high level have a direct impact on people everyday.

“We see people from the school board, and people from our engineering department – our engineers are the ones that design the standards of our roads and sidewalks.  And so I think it is those people at a technical level that have a really great opportunity to gain a new perspective.”

Participants will carry out their every day activities in the wheelchairs, while also taking part in special challenges at the Farmers Market and at Muskoseepi Park.

A man wanted on a Canada wide warrant for a January roll over that killed one person was arrested in our city yesterday.  Ryan Wilneff was seriously injured in the January 22nd accident that killed a 28 year old man.  Two days later, he walked out of the hospital.  Edmonton Police charged him with impaired driving causing death, and issued the warrant for his arrest.  He was picked up yesterday afternoon in the Gateway area.  He will head back to Edmonton today for a bail hearing.

RCMP have arrested a 27 year old Grande Prairie man for drug possession following a traffic stop. Police say subsequent to the arrest early Tuesday morning, they seized over 370 grams of cocaine, 99 grams of crystal meth, and $37,000 dollars in cash. Cody Titchmarsh is charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. He’ll make his first court appearance on Monday.

The city is once again looking for nominees for it’s annual Great Neighbour program. If you have a neighbour that has gone above and beyond in providing assistance or a service, you are encouraged to nominate them by June 6th. Submissions have to be a maximum of 225 words, and can be emailed to [email protected]. The winners will be announced during Municipal Government Day on June 11th.

A pair of workshops and an awards gala make up the Innovate 2014 conference, set for May 22nd and 23rd at the Pomeroy Hotel and Conference Centre. Holly Sorgen with Community Futures says the goal of the conference is to show just how innovative people in our region are.

“I think we are innovative just out of necessity and it is kind of in our nature.  So really looking at that, but I think there are some valuable things businesses can take from this in terms of being competitive and thinking a little bit outside of the box and setting themselves apart from the box stores and making themselves really successful.”

Registrations are now being accepted by going online to www.innovate2014.ca.

One of the highlights of the Innovate 2014 conference will be an Awards gala dinner on the evening of May 22nd. Centennial Innovation awards will be handed out that evening to seven individuals or groups. Reg Isley of Risley Equipment will receive two awards that night – one for Innovator of the Century and one for Innovation of the Century for the creation of the RotoSaw. Isley says past failures are a big reason for their success.

“We have had a lot of failures, but have never given up.  What it does is it pushes you to another level.  It might be a design change, it might mean starting over again, or learning from that change.”

Dave Fenton and Herman Trelle will also be recognized as Innovators of the Century, while Crystal Park School and the Suicide Prevention Resource Centre’s Breakfast Club program will also be presented with Innovation of the Century awards. Roy Bickell and the Longmate family will be recognized that evening as Entrepreneurs of the Century.

Peace River School Division students will be taking part in a celebration of First Nations, Metis and Inuit culture tomorrow. Springfield Elementary in Peace River will be hosting students from across the division for the annual hand games competition. PRSD Board Chair Darren Kuester says participation in the games is beneficial for all students.

“It’s not only FNMI students that compete in these, all students are allowed to compete and it’s often the FNMI students that become the leaders and are showing the other kids how to do it. So it’s the integration and appreciation for the culture.”

Kuester says Hand Games date back thousands of years in FNMI history, and help teach students things like good sportsmanship, cooperation, dexterity, and agility.