Last week I got to sit down with Michael Phair to dig into the history of the LGBTQ community here in Edmonton. A couple of years back I got to hear him speak about this on an Edmonton Heritage Council YEG Curiousities Bus Tour and knew he had some of the hidden stories in town.Continue reading “Who We Are in YEG: LGBTQ Community Past and Present”
Category Archives: News
This Week’s CBC Column: YEG’s Muslim Community
This week my summer column returns to its normal time slot at 4:40pm on Wednesday. I will be speaking to the long Muslim history in Edmonton with help from social entrepreneur and heritage project leader, Omar Yaqub. If you can’t catch the column then, or you’d like to listen to past editions, please click hereContinue reading “This Week’s CBC Column: YEG’s Muslim Community”
Today’s CBC Column: Metis Community in Edmonton
I’ll be doing my CBC Radio Active column, Who We Are, at a special time today because of the holiday yesterday. Please tune in after the 3pm news to hear me try and untangle the complex history and present-day Metis community in Edmonton with the help of former Poet Laureate and metis writer, Anna MarieContinue reading “Today’s CBC Column: Metis Community in Edmonton”
Upcoming CBC Column: Edmonton’s Jewish Heritage and Community
Just got back from interviewing Paul Gifford, the archivist at the Jewish Archives and Historical Society of Edmonton and Northern Alberta (JAHSENA) for the first installment of my summer column. For the next 10 weeks I get to reprise my role as summer columnist for CBC Radio Active as I explore the diversity in ourContinue reading “Upcoming CBC Column: Edmonton’s Jewish Heritage and Community”
Opening Hearts and Starting Conversations
For the past six weeks, I’ve been working with other members of RISEdmonton (Reconciliation in Solidarity Edmonton) to make this heart garden happen. The group’s founder, Miranda Jimmy, was inspired to do this project by the one being installed during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s closing events in Ottawa, as well as ones that wereContinue reading “Opening Hearts and Starting Conversations”
Your help is needed!
A woman from Cambridge Bay, NU (Cathy Aitok) has contacted me through my Ghosts of Camsell site looking for help tracking down what happened to her grandfather. He was sent to the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital for prosthetics for his feet in May 1960: “He was sent out from Perry River/Island – Cambridge Bay area. My mom saidContinue reading “Your help is needed!”
Some news stories about Camsell project
If you’ve never heard of Indian hospitals, you’re not the only one. This is one particular dark issue in Canada’s past that isn’t often spoken about, even though the story comes right into St. Albert’s backyard. The issue is so little-known, in fact, that Edmonton historian Danielle Metcalfe-Chenail had never heard of them until sheContinue reading “Some news stories about Camsell project”
Ghosts of Camsell – Updates & Video Trailer!
The blog series is done for now, but the search for answers will continue for a long time, I’m sure. In the meantime, I have been talking on the radio about the project and my partner on this project, Nicole Beart of Memory Catcher, has completed a video trailer. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FlhNM-JWkQ] Also, on Tuesday, May 19th from 5-8pmContinue reading “Ghosts of Camsell – Updates & Video Trailer!”
Ghosts of Camsell
One of the most interesting – and heartbreaking – parts of the research for my last book were the X-ray tours, evacuations, and treatments of northern indigenous people in the Charles Camsell Indian Hospital in Edmonton. I could only cover it briefly in the book, but vowed I would spend more time investigating this era,Continue reading “Ghosts of Camsell”
Diversity in Aviation: Air Cadet 699 Squadron
I was invited to speak at a fundraising dinner for 699 Squadron last month in Edmonton, and I was so impressed. These air cadets are leading the charge in diversity – ahead of the RCAF and airlines at this point – and are some of the nicest, most engaged citizens I’ve come across. And they areContinue reading “Diversity in Aviation: Air Cadet 699 Squadron”