Public Interest Alberta

Achieving the Promise will bring together people from various...

public-interest-alberta — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 13:19:00 -0500

Achieving the Promise will bring together people from various organizations to explore real strategies that need to be included in the social policy framework to achieve the Premier’s promise to reduce and eliminate poverty in Alberta.

The forum features:

The public and media launch ofthe 2012 annual report on child and family poverty in Alberta.
Speakers on economic, community, municipal government and public solutions.

Bill McKibben speaks in Camrose and Edmonton, Oct.23 and 24th,...

public-interest-alberta — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 13:59:33 -0400

Bill McKibben speaks in Camrose and Edmonton, Oct.23 and 24th, 2012.

Our Water is Not for Sale and Keepers of the Athabasca present...

public-interest-alberta — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:55:02 -0400

Our Water is Not for Sale and Keepers of the Athabasca present Jeremy Schmidt.

With long-promised public consultations on changes to Alberta’s water allocation system expected this fall and increased emphasis in Alberta on the development of regional land-use frameworks, recent changes at the federal level present Alberta with an opportunity to cultivate a broader and more equitable ethic for land and water governance.

Land and water are intricately connected systems, yet they are often managed separately. Jeremy Schmidt will explore the historical context in which land and water were divided for the purposes of resource governance in Alberta. This move effectively excluded alternate conceptions of social organization and of the land-water system itself.

Schmidt will discuss two contemporary challenges to the effective governance of land-water systems in Alberta. The first is that of shifting from policies where water is instrumental to land, such as in presumptions that water left for nature is not in use. This challenge is taken up in relation to federal changes to inland water protection passed in the 2012 federal budget. The second is that of recognizing the broader community dependent on effective land and water governance. This is taken up in the context of federal signals that the legislation of private property on First Nations territory is likely to change. Depending on these changes, there could be significant impacts on water rights.

About Jeremy Schmidt

Jeremy J. Schmidt is a SSHRC Post-doctoral Fellow at Harvard University. He received his PhD in Geography from Western University, where he held one of Canada’s prestigious Trudeau Scholarships. He holds a MA in Geography (McGill) and two undergraduate degrees (Lethbridge; Prairie) with majors in geography, philosophy, theology and wilderness leadership. He is the author of the Parkland Institute’s report Alternative Water Futures in Alberta, co-editor of Water Ethics: Foundational Readings for Students and Professionals, and has served on working groups for ethics and water management with UNESCO. He has been an invited participant of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the Religion, Science and Environment Symposium. His doctoral research examined water governance and ethics in Alberta.

Calgarians Re-inventing Green - Alberta Premiere of “In...

public-interest-alberta — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:55:42 -0400

Calgarians Re-inventing Green - Alberta Premiere of “In Transition 2.0” - Part of the 2012 EcoLiving Fair

Local panel discussion to follow with Olympian Kristina Groves, MLA David Swann, Author/Candidate Chris Turner, Slow Food Farmer Kris Vester.

View film trailer here.

Saturday, September 29, 2012, 3pm

SAIT - Stan Grad Centre (Heritage Hall), 2nd Floor

$10 at door, 100% Calgary Dollars Accepted!

Facebook event

Photo

public-interest-alberta — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:51:17 -0400

Join us for our annual fundraiser. Featuring Maria Dunn’s...

public-interest-alberta — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:28:39 -0400

Join us for our annual fundraiser. Featuring Maria Dunn’s GWG: Piece by Piece project.

Join us in Edmonton on September 24th, and in Calgary on...

public-interest-alberta — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:52:00 -0400

Join us in Edmonton on September 24th, and in Calgary on September 25th for:

A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy
Book Launch and Discussion with Dr. Ryan Meili

Edmonton
Monday, September 24 at 7:00 pm
Room 2-490, Edmonton Clinic Health Academy
11405-87 Avenue, University of Alberta Campus

Calgary:
Tuesday September 25 at 7:00pm
Auditorium, Parkdale United Church 2919 8th Avenue NW

Drawing on his experiences as a family physician in the inner city of Saskatoon, Mozambique, and rural Saskatchewan, Dr. Meili argues that health delivery too often focuses on treatment of immediate causes and ignores more fundamental conditions that lead to poor health. Through a mix of scholarship and story, the author proposes a new approach to politics. The use of human health as a measure of our success as a society, and the application of the ideas of the social determinants of health to public policy, appeals beyond political lines to common values. By synthesizing diverse ideas into a plan for action based in the lived experiences of practitioners and patients, A Healthy Society breaks important ground in the renewal of politics toward the goal of better lives for all Canadians.

Ryan Meili is a family doctor at the West Side Community Clinic in Saskatoon, and the author of the recently released book, “A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy.”

You can learn more at www.ryanmeili.ca

This event is organized by the Council of Canadians, with the help of Friends of Medicare, the Parkland Institute, United Nurses Association, the Alberta Federation of Labour and Public Interest Alberta.

Two days left to apply for Next Up! A free leadership program...

public-interest-alberta — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:21:17 -0400

Two days left to apply for Next Up! A free leadership program for youth (18-32 years old) wishing to learn about, and connect around, social and environmental justice. The deadline to apply in Edmonton and Calgary is September 21, 2012.