Over the next two weeks the local detachment will be getting in tough with Grande Prairie residents to get their thoughts and opinions on crime in policing in the city. The survey will help with the creation of the RCMP strategic plan for the Grande Prairie and Beaverlodge detachments. Police say there has been some fraudulent phone activity in the city recently, so the pollster will make sure to identify themselves as the Population Research Laboratory from the University of Alberta and will not be asking any personally identifying questions. Grande Prairie Superintendent Ray Noble is hoping they will have the strategy finished and ready for presentation by sometime in June.

A partnership between the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Heart and Stroke foundation is responsible for the installation of two new Automated External Defibrillators for the County of Grande Prairie Sportsplex.

Both the Pat’s Auto and Chris McMillan rinks at the facility will have an AED, which are electronic devices used to restart a heart that has stopped beating.

The two devices are part of a 4 year program announced last February, that hopes to see over 2000 AED’s installed in rinks around the country by 2016.

A special hundredth anniversary edition of the Grande Prairie Cemetery Historical Walking tours will pay homage to some of the people that helped shape the city into what it is today. South Peace Regional Archivist Leslie Gordon says this year’s tour will be a little different, and won’t just focus on the cemetery’s more well known inhabitants.

“One of my favourites on this tour is our first garbage collector. It’s just something that’s necessary to the running of a city but not necessarily a famous person at the time.”

Registration for the two tours is limited to 20 people each, though Gordon says they will consider adding more tours if there is enough interest. They will be held on June 11 and June 16. It’s free to take part, you just have get in touch with the archives to do so.

More than 1700 students from across the Peace region descended on the Entrec Centre yesterday afternoon for CAREERexpo Grande Prairie. The event gave students a exposure to 70 companies and post-secondary institutions from across the province. Show Manager Patti Stewart says the expo aims to give kids a more hands on approach to career investigation.

“It’s not a matter of just walking past booths and having conversations, but rather they can actually touch and feel and get to understand a little bit more about certain careers by just getting that much closer to the subject.”

Stewart says the companies they do see wanting to take part are the ones that are looking at the big picture.

“We are looking for businesses who are willing to invest in the youth of the community with a potential for a return maybe five or six years down the road. If we have another goal associated with this show, it’s to ensure that kids realize that there’s so many opportunities right in their home community.”

Student attendance at Career Expo Grande Prairie tripled from last year, while the amount of exhibits doubled. Stewart says the numbers are encouraging, and she hopes to see it grow even more in future years.