Published in the June 2 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Canadians building trust with Afghans

The war in Afghanistan is far from over, but soldiers returning home to Edmonton say the battle to win the trust of the Afghan people is being won.

“There was a significant increase in the level of trust and understanding between ourselves, the Afghan security forces and the local national population, whereas when we first arrived there was very little co-operation, very little trust and understanding and very little communication,” said Maj. Wayne Niven, one of over 100 Edmonton-based soldiers to return to homeground at the Edmonton International Airport, just after 3 a.m. Tuesday.

“By the end of our tour we were regularly being approached … by the local nationals, identifying suspicious activities, security concerns, IEDs and the like.”

Niven, 35, said his seven-month tour was “extremely rewarding” with troops seeing a marked change in the attitude of Afghan locals towards the Canadian Forces.

Capt. James O’Neill, 33, who patrolled and helped with local water and irrigation projects, shared the same sentiment.

“The tour went really well, very successful,” O’Neill said. “We were active patrolling pretty much on an everyday basis … I believe that we accomplished a lot there.”

Niven said Canadian troops were embedded among the population in a newer area of the Panjwaii district in southern Afghanistan.

“It’s great to be home,” said Niven. “It’s been a long tour.”

Niven was reunited with his wife and two young girls at the Edmonton Garrison later in the morning, while O’Neill met with his girlfriend and dog.

O’Neill plans to spend the next 55 days he has off with family and plans to take up surfing when he vacations in B.C. next month.

While the majority of returning soldiers were most excited to see and hug friends and family, Cpl. Angel Goodlad, 23, couldn’t wait to do something else.

“Eat sushi and drink Caesars,” she said, laughing.

This was Goodlad’s first tour, which she described as “very, very busy.”

The returning group of soldiers marks the last of the Land Force Western Area task force 3-09.

Over 2,500 soldiers have returned to Canada since mid-April.

Canada is set to withdraw from the mission in Afghanistan by 2011.

Published in the June 3 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Push to punt plastic

Change aimed at customers with bad bag behaviour is making its way to retail stores across the province as part of a new awareness campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags.

Ramping up promotion of reusable bags — and even offering those bags at a deep discount or for free — are just some of the measures that will be used in the voluntary reduction campaign, announced Wednesday.

The campaign, put on by the provincial government and four of Canada’s major retail associations, is aimed at reducing the use of plastic bags by 50% over five years.

“It goes without saying that plastic bags and the waste associated with plastic bags is something that the public has increasingly become concerned about,” said Environment Minister Rob Renner.

“It’s more than just an eyesore and a nuisance, plastic bags contribute to a significant amount of environmental problems.”

Currently, reusable bags are offered at various grocery chains across Alberta, at a small price. Some chains, such as Superstore, also charge customers for plastic bags as a plastic bag-use deterrent.

Ruth Swan, head cashier at Terra Losa Safeway 9710 170 St., says in her 48 years of working for the company, she’s never seen more customers going through her till with reusable bags.

“I’ve seen quite an increase. I think people are getting really conscious about saving the environment,” Swan said.

Jenny Boyd, whose Wednesday grocery trip used up six plastic bags, says offering reusable bags for free would make her change her bad bag behaviour.

“If they provide people with reusable bags in the first place at no charge, because some people can’t afford it, then I would use them more consistently,” Boyd said.

Other reduction initiatives include providing consumers with incentives like rebate or points programs, offering recycled cardboard boxes as a carry-out option, and even training store staff to pack more items into bags than they currently are.

“But you don’t want to reinforce the old stereotype of the customer walking down the street with their groceries all over the place,” said Tom Hesse with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union of Canada.

Many of the initiatives outlined in the awareness plan have already been implemented in stores, but more aggressive promotion is on the way.

The four organizations involved , the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, Retail Council of Canada, Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers and the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores, make up more than 90% of all retail sales in Alberta.

The organizations aim to reduce the use of up to 450 million plastic bags in the province by 2013, with annual reduction number reports.

If goals are not met in five years, the government plans to look at implementing a ban. “But at this point, I believe this is the best way to go,” Renner said.

Ontario and B.C. have similar campaigns.

The average Albertan uses over 257 plastic bags per year.

Published in the June 4 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Student overcomes blindness to get university degree

Most parents cry tears of joy when they watch their child graduate.

On Mikkel Arnston’s graduation day, his parents’ tears were due in large part to the fact that their blind son had done something seemingly impossible.

The 23-year-old mechanical engineering student suddenly lost his vision during his second year at the University of Alberta, but pushed on with his education despite the odds being stacked against him. On Thursday, Mikkel proudly received his post-secondary degree.

“He stuck with it and he did very well,” Mikkel’s mother, Viva, said just before Mikkel’s convocation ceremony, tears rolling freely down her face.

“We’re very proud.”

Mikkel was diagnosed with leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) in 2007, his second year of mechnical engineering.

LHON is a disease that causes rapid degeneration of cells in the eye.

Mikkel’s vision was lost in a matter of months.

“I can’t see the big E,” he said quietly, referring to the first letter on the top line of the optometrist’s eye test.

Unable to drive alone or confidently cross the street, the normally outgoing and independent Mikkel has been left extremely vulnerable.

“You have to change everything. You can’t do things the same. You can’t take notes off the board. You can’t flip through a textbook to find something,” he said.

Mikkel’s parents described their son’s frontal vision as “like looking at a static TV.”

He was unable to complete the work experience portion of his engineering curriculum and fell into a very low point in his life.

“We were worried,” said Mikkel’s father, Don.

Despite this, the student was determined to finish his degree, with or without 100% vision.

“I was halfway through so I figured I’d better finish it up,” Mikkel said, citing enlarging of text and an emphasis on hearing as reasons for his post-secondary success.

“I’m very happy to be finished and to have my degree.”

Mikkel admits, however, that his chances of pursuing a career in the field are unlikely.

“The job prospects aren’t especially promising,” he said.

The graduate is now considering law school as an alternative career choice.

“He had his sights set on six figures and he’s going to get it one way or another,” Don said with a smile.

Published in the June 5 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Cats for the taking

It’s the “purr-fect” cat campaign.

Zero down, zero financing — absolutely no payments at all.

This new cat sale campaign, where the felines are free, is being put on by the Edmonton Humane Society and Lexus of Edmonton in response to an overwhelming number of homeless kitties at the shelter.

“It’s called Certified Preowned Cats,” said Shawna Ra n d o l p h, Edmonton Humane Society spokeswoman.

“It’s mirroring a car commercial, but with Lexus of Edmonton it’s a very classy car commercial because it’s luxury vehicles, luxury cats.”

Lexus of Edmonton, along with several individual donors, is sponsoring 125 adult cats up for adoption at the Edmonton Humane Society during the Certified Preowned Cats sale Saturday and Sunday June 5 and 6.

The sponsorship covers the $130 adoption fee normally attached to an individual cat.

“We’re a luxury brand and we believe cats are a luxury animal,” said Bruce Kirkland, general manager of Lexus of Edmonton.

“It’s just a wonderful opportunity for people if they’re in the market for a used cat, as the campaign goes, that now is the time to do it,” Randolph said.

Lexus cars will be lined up outside the humane society for the event. Several cats have also been renamed to match Lexus car colours like Obsidian, a four-year-old black and white cat who has been with the humane society since January.

The Edmonton Humane Society at 13620 163 St. will be open extended hours this weekend for the special adoption event, Saturday from noon to 8 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.

Randolph says those interested in the sale should be aware that it’s not a quick process.

“It’s not a matter of coming, picking the cat and leaving,” she said.

The regular adoption process including adoption papers and an extensive interview will still be in effect.

Currently the EHS is caring for over 200 felines and expects to see numbers increase over the summer.

The Certified Pre-owned Cats campaign is the first of its kind in Edmonton, but the idea originated from a humane society in the United States that found success in cat sales after teaming up with a local car dealership.

If the weekend sale is successful, the humane society plans to hold the event again in the fall.

Published in the June 5 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Poets take on military life

Suzanne Steele remembers waking up at 4 a.m. with military cooks to watch them feed the Canadian army.

She remembers riding in light armoured vehicles with soldiers and spending a day living among Afghan locals wearing a burka.

Steele was the first poet chosen in 2008 to participate in the Canadian Forces Artist Program, where artists are invited to join soldiers overseas to record daily operations and capture the spirit of the Canadian Forces.

YEAR WITH TROOPS

However, unlike most artists in the program who only get to experience life with soldiers for a short period of time, Steele was given the opportunity to follow 1st Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (1 PPCLI) in Edmonton for more than a year prior to their deployment to Afghanistan.

“I got a chance to watch them the whole way,” Steele said over the phone from her home in Victoria, B.C. “I had an extraordinary and unique experience.”

Steele spent months flying back and forth from her home in Victoria to CFB Edmonton to watch as soldiers trained to go overseas.

In Nov. 2009, she flew to Afghanistan with the battle group to witness first-hand soldiers’ lives in the war.

“Before I did this I had a cookie-cutter image of what it meant to be a soldier,” she said.

Over a span of 18 months, Steele wrote poem after poem about military life and posted them on her website, http://www.warpoet.ca.

Now Steele is part of a team of three involved with a unique Edmonton-based military poetry project called In Arms.

In Arms’ aim is to collect war poetry from poets, family or friends of soldiers, and even soldiers themselves, as a way to show Canadians a side of the war they don’t usually see.

“It’s an experience that so few of us really have if we’re not in that world,” said Alice Major, In Arms member and Edmonton Poetry Festival president. “I believe profoundly that art is one of the best ways at expressing and creating dialogue.”

In Arms hopes to create a dialogue among Edmontonians about the Canadian military.

Poetry will be collected over the next several months, culminating into a poetry reading performance at the Royal Alberta Museum on the eve of Remembrance Day 2010.

Donna Yakibchuk, whose son returned to CFB Edmonton after a tour in Afghanistan earlier this week, has contributed three poems to In Arms.

She said writing war poetry while her son was overseas was the perfect outlet for her feelings as a mother of a soldier.

CRYING FOR EVERYBODY

“It’s a whole new area of emotion,” Yakibchuk said. “You end up crying for everybody.”

From June 16-23, Steele will visit CFB Edmonton for a series of events related to the return of 1 PPCLI.

“That will bring it full circle for me personally,” she said.
In Arms will also be reaching out to military personnel during that week to participate in the poetry project.
Submissions to the In Arms project can be made at http://www.inarms.ca.

Published in the June 9 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

From dousing to delivering

When Brian McIntyre started his first day of paternity leave, he wasn’t expecting to do much — take his two-year-old daughter swimming, maybe play a game of soccer.

Instead, the Edmonton firefighter found himself delivering his new baby son June 2 on the floor by his dining room table after his wife went into labour a week early.

“I worked the night shift before, got off in the morning and seven hours later…” McIntyre said, motioning Tuesday to his sleeping six-day-old son Ronan.

“I didn’t realize this was going to happen.”

Around 2 p.m. that Wednesday, McIntyre’s wife Candice lay on the hardwood floor of their home, while McIntyre’s sister was on the phone with 911, yelling out delivery instructions to McIntyre.

After the baby was out, the 42-year-old firefighter grabbed a lime green shoelace off of Candice’s recently purchased Puma sneakers and used it to cut the baby’s umbilical cord.

The entire procedure took just 10 minutes and three pushes to bring blue-eyed Ronan into the world.

“Thinking back, it’s like, ‘wow, did that actually happen?’ ” she said. “My body didn’t give me any warnings that all of a sudden that was going to happen.”

Candice added she was disappointed she wasn’t able to give birth at the new Lois Hole Hospital for Women.

And despite battling fires and being faced with dangerous situations at work each day, McIntyre said delivering a baby was an entirely different challenge.

“It’s harder. I’ve never done it before,” he said. “There’s a lot of adrenaline in a short period of time.

“I was a nervous wreck (but) right when I got into doing it I kind of forgot about everything else.”

The firefighter added that his friends and family have started calling him “Dr. McIntyre.”

The family plans to save the shoelaces used to cut the umbilical cord and tell their son about his special delivery when he gets older.

“I’m still using the shoes, too,” Candice said, adding that the laces have since been washed.

McIntyre is on paternity leave for three months.

Published in the June 12 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

No funds for special needs kids

Special needs students could soon be integrated into regular classrooms after the provincial government announced Friday it’s going ahead with a plan for an inclusive special education system.

However, Minister of Education Dave Hancock said funding for the redesigned system is still unclear.

“I don’t know how long it will take before we get a new funding formula,” Hancock said.

“What’s most important is that we figure out how to work and align our resources … and then we can figure out the alignment and resources that go into that.”

He also said that the current funding model for special education in the province isn’t working.

“We use a ton of resources diagnosing children and putting paper in files about what their condition is, and to a great extent that has very little relevance to what their learning needs are or what their support needs are,” he said.

“We can take those resources and use them differently to actually provide learning supports, technology supports and supporting teachers and schools in how we wrap services around those children.”

The inclusive education announcement was made at Crawford Plains School, 4210 12 Ave. where successful inclusion practices are already in place for its 70 special needs students from kindergarten to Grade 6.

“We had to design literacy and other subject areas very differently in order to meet the needs of all students in our school,” said principal Jeanne Carter.

“Learning to differentiate instruction has resulted in all of our students growing far beyond what were our possibilities and imaginations.”

Three “inclusive education planning tool” pilot projects will be implemented this September at four provincial francophone schools and schools in Fort McMurray and Red Deer, while a variety of other practices will be carried out slowly throughout the province.

But a Liberal critic for children and youth services and education is skeptical the system will work.

“Minister Hancock down-played the importance of funding,” said Liberal MLA Harry Chase. “It’s all very heavy on feel-good philosophy, inspiring education, but if there’s no funding commitment or no timeline commitment … I don’t see it being practically implemented.

“If we’re going to be successful with including all children in the system, funding is a key issue.”

The system overhaul is based on supports and service recommendations from a special education report that included consultations with more than 7,000 Albertans over the past two years.

The government spent $2.5 million for the consultation process.

There is no date set for when a fully inclusive education system would be in place but Minister of Health and Wellness Gene Zwozdesky hopes to see changes within a year and a half.

Published in the June 16 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Daily tears after 25 years

It’s been nearly 25 years since the worst terrorist attack in Canadian history and a Sherwood Park man continues to mourn the deaths of his wife and son, who were both killed in that attack.

Krishna Bhat, 68, cries for his dead wife Muktha and nine-year-old son Deepak every day. They both died in the 1985 Air India bombing.

“I’ve been suffering for the last 25 years,” Bhat said Tuesday. “I shed my tears on a daily basis in my prayer.”

On June 23, 1985, a bomb exploded on the Boeing 747 Air India Flight 182, killing 329 people and marking the worst mass killing in Canada.

A five-volume, 3,000-page report by a commission of inquiry created in 2006 to determine what went wrong the day of the tragedy will be released and made public Thursday, just six days prior to the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack.

Commission staff reviewed thousands of documents from government departments, agencies and RCMP.

More than 200 witnesses were also interviewed.

But the devastated Bhat said the report won’t likely bring him any closure.

He added that the time it took for a commission of inquiry to be created in the first place — more than two decades after the bombing — was long overdue.

“Why did it take them such a long time for a public inquiry?” Bhat said angrily.

“Had it been Caucasian people, would a public inquiry been done in a moment?”

But a pastor from the Vang Lutheran Church, 12 kilo-metres north of Wetaskiwin, whose sister was among the 329 passengers killed in the explosion, looks forward to the results of the report.

“(I) have the hope that this inquiry will explain not so much what happened, but why it happened, and how it can be prevented from happening again,” Rev. Louis Morin wrote in an e-mail to QMI Agency.

The bombing of Flight 182 was widely blamed on B.C.- based Sikh militants, but only one man has ever been convicted on a reduced charge of manslaughter.

Meanwhile, Bhat has since remarried, retired, and has two kids in high school.

But the grieving husband and father says his first wife and son never leave his mind.

“There is no time I don’t think about them,” he said quietly. “He (Deepak) would be 34 now.”

Bhat blames his anguish on the Canadian government and law enforcement agencies, who he says did not do enough to stop the tragedy from happening.

“The anger has never subsided in me.”

Published in the June 18 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Teen girl hopeful to meet idol

The mission was a simple one for 14-year-old Danielle Lowe.

All she had to do was film a 30-second video showcasing as creatively and convincingly why she is Carrie Underwood’s biggest fan, and she could win a trip to Chicago to meet the country-singing superstar.

“I decided to write this song for you,” Lowe belted out in her video entry to Country Music Television’s Carrie Underwood Ultimate Fan contest.

“I’m your ultimate fan, it’s true.”

The Grade 9 Louis St. Laurent student — who writes and sings original country music and plays guitar — used her talents and her powerful voice in her video, catching the eye of judges.

Lowe is now one of the top 20 finalists for the contest, beating out video entries from fans across the country.

She hopes her dynamic voice and catchy tune will garner enough votes to win in the end.

“I’m a singer and I play guitar and I thought it would be cool to write the lyrics to say why I’m a fan because Carrie is a singer and maybe they (voters) would like that instead of just talking like a lot of people did,” she said.

Many of the videos showed fans talking into a webcam for 30 seconds, but some more creative entries included fans rapping, jumping on trampolines and telling a Underwood fairy tale.

The contest page does not show which video is in the lead, but Lowe is hopeful of her chances of meeting the American Idol winner.

Voting ends Friday and a winner will be announced June 23.

The winner will fly down to Chicago to meet the country artist in August and watch her perform live. The winner’s journey and meet-and-greet with Underwood will also be filmed and aired on CMT in the fall.

To vote for Lowe, go to www.cmt.ca.

Published in the June 22 2010 issue of The Edmonton Sun. News

Victim of blast had smelled gas, says grieving fiancee

The fiancee of a man killed in a deadly house explosion says her partner smelled gas in their home right before the fatal blast.

Amy Fuechtmann said fiance Brad Winter made the observation Sunday before the house next to them at 18011 91A St. — now a crater in the ground — blew up, killing a woman and three men, including 26-year-old Winter.

“We were going to go to my dad’s for a barbecue,” Fuechtmann said over the phone.

“I was upstairs… lying on my bed and then the roof was on me.”

Fuechtmann and her three-year- old son Jacob were pulled out of the collapsed home by neighbours, but Winter and another man who lived in the house, his friend Craig Huber, 30, did not make it out of the explosion alive.

“I’m not coping well,” Fuechtmann said quietly.

The 20-year-old had been with Winter for two years.

Neighbours described Winter and Huber as nice and friendly men.

“They’d stop and talk to me while I’m standing out in my driveway,” said Claudio Frigo, who lives just down the block from the site of the explosion.

“They had motorcycles, and my sons are interested in motorcycles, so they would talk to them about it.”

Frigo, who was one of the first people on scene helping to pull Fuechtmann and Jacob out of the rubble, said Winter and Huber also had two dogs and he often saw them walking the German shepherds around the neighbourhood.

Emotional posts poured onto the wall of a Facebook memorial group created Monday for the two men.

“Wow I can’t believe this actually happened. R.I. P Brad and Craig,” one person wrote.

“I love you son, my wonderful precious son,” wrote Winter’s mother, Debbie.

A remembrance celebration and fundraiser is being planned for the two friends for Friday night at Zocca’s Pizzeria in the north end.

An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday to determine the cause of death for Winter, Huber and the other man and woman killed.

Fuechtmann and her son are currently staying with Fuechtmann’s mother.