Alberta's transportation minister boasts his plan for more stations and elevated downtown tracks is better than a tunnel. But he didn't release the report to back that up.

The month-long Canada Post strike and a flood in the federal building in downtown Edmonton this week created major hurdles for people waiting on passports.

A sprawling military training base more than twice the size of New York City in southeastern Alberta appears to be a shadow of its former self while its future use remains up in the air.

Opioid deaths in Alberta continue to drop from their peak last year, according to the latest provincial statistics.

At the annual Camp Widow event, individuals who have lost their partners gather to navigate the overwhelming grief of their loss. In the absence of a national bereavement strategy, grief-support charities are stepping in to provide frontline assistance.

The Edmonton apartment building where Harshandeep Singh, a 20-year-old security guard, was fatally shot has had conditions imposed on it since May to address crime and disorder. As Travis McEwan reports, the two people charged in Singh's death have lengthy criminal records.

Investigators say it happened Friday morning at the intersection of 210th Avenue S.W. and Belmont Drive S.W. at about 7:40 a.m.

The annual Make the Season Kind holiday campaign comes to a close with a live broadcast from the CBC Edmonton Centre Stage. Adrienne Lamb updates how the holiday drive helped food banks in northern Alberta.

John McDougall's time as police commission chair is up on Dec. 31, 2024, but his appointment as a commission member lasts to the end of 2026, and he says he intends to continue his term from Europe.

Heather Morley, the CEO of Inn from the Cold, says the strike has caused a “high level of anxiety” for many charities in the city. 

Edmonton police say eight more complainants have come forward since they announced a sexual assault charge against chiropractor Bradley Basaraba last month.

It would be “extremely dangerous” for jurors to rely on the evidence of the prosecution’s star witness, defence lawyers argued in closing arguments of a first-degree murder trial in Calgary. 

After months of uncertainty surrounded the fate of the project, the province's new, above-ground plan alignment of the Green Line LRT is finally here. 

The company said that the mug's lid threads can shrink when exposed to heat and torque, causing the lid to detach during use, posing a burn hazard.

The First Nation is partnering with asset management company Durum Capital to develop the land, which is near Calaway Park and the Springbank Airport.

The holiday season is always the busiest time of year for charities, but challenges, including the Canada Post strike, make this year even more critical for Edmontonians to donate their money, time, or effort.

"It really is that seasonal giving we rely on," Sonja Zacharko, executive director of Edmonton Meals on Wheels, told Taproot. "Over half of our donations come in this time of year. And we generally do a direct mail campaign, which even in this day and age people look for."

Taproot has assembled several ways you can give back to our community over the holidays and beyond.

Ways to offer support during the holidays

Edmonton's Food Bank is facing unprecedented demand and is calling on Edmonton residents to "foodraise" 300,000 kilograms and to fundraise $4.5 million by Jan. 10. "There's no words to express how difficult it has been for our organization," executive director Marjorie Bencz told Postmedia, adding she's never seen the food bank busier in her 30 years with the organization.

Afro-Caribbean Food Bank is a new food bank in Edmonton that collects culturally appropriate foods for those with Afro-Caribbean roots. "Food is comfort, food is culture, food gives you identity. We want to be able to give (users) that little comfort," program director Ranti George told CTV.

Given the shocking number of people without housing in Edmonton, Bissell Centre is a critical organization to support. It has launched its Become a Bissell Elf campaign, which offers opportunities to help with tasks such as gift wrapping, loading and unloading, event staffing, and food preparation.

The Bissell Centre also has an opportunity to spread holiday cheer at Hope Terrace, a residence for people living with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. You can either purchase a gift suggested on a resident's wish list or donate money for staff to spend on a gift. The deadline to participate is Dec. 15.

Boyle Street Community Services has launched a Share the Joy campaign, offering individuals, families, and businesses a number of ways to help Edmontonians experiencing poverty and homelessness this winter.

How organizations are pitching in

Organizations are also stepping up to support their community or those on the front lines over the holidays.

At Meals on Wheels, Zacharko said the organization is offering its Holiday Feastival. This is 18 days of premium meals, like brisket or turkey dinners, to help make the holidays special for clients. Zacharko said increased corporate donations in December help make the campaign possible.

Meanwhile, the Gurdwara Dukh Nivaran Sahib has raised money for Edmonton's Food Bank for 20 years. This year, it raised more than $50,000.

Analog Brewing and Alley Kat Brewing Co. have partnered on a beer-based advent calendar called the 12 Beers of Christmas, with $5 from every sale going to Edmonton's Food Bank.

Beyond the holidays

Help can extend beyond the holiday season. YEG Chinatown Re:VITA hosts a cleanup event on the second Saturday of every month. Attending the cleanup also sees volunteers receive a passport stamp for the Chinatown Chow Down Challenge, which runs until March 2025 and supports restaurants in the area.

At Meals on Wheels, Zacharko said the organization has 500 volunteers and they help throughout the year.

The organization looks for kitchen staff and drivers with reliable vehicles who can also connect with and check in on the people they are delivering to, Zacharko said. These roles come with additional requirements, but Zacharko said the trust built with clients is worth the extra time.

"We talk about food being physical, but it's so much more, and so is our delivery," she said. "It impacts individuals' well-being and their mental health and their overall wellness so much."

What else should people know about?

This is by no means a comprehensive list, so if you have a holiday-giving campaign you'd like to draw attention to, please add it in the comments below.

On this day in 1945, one of Edmonton's oddest downtown office buildings was sold.

The Agency Building was just 25 feet wide, making it an instantly recognizable landmark downtown, nestled beside the Capitol Theatre on Jasper Avenue. Despite its narrowness, the building was six storeys tall and about 150 feet deep.

There was a specific reason for these odd proportions: Money. When plans were drawn up in 1911, Edmonton was growing rapidly, and the real estate market was booming. Land along Jasper Avenue was reaching exorbitant prices, and prices were calculated by how much frontage a building had along the avenue.

By building narrow, tall, and deep, the Northern Investment Agency was able to save a lot of money. The result was a building made of reinforced concrete, faced with both grey and plain bricks. The skinny skyscraper took advantage of its height by painting its name on both of its exposed sides, where it loomed above all the other buildings on the street.

Inside, there was only room for about 30 offices running down one side of the building, connected by a single hallway on the other side. The design wasn't exactly safe. Since there was only room for a fire escape on the office side, it could blocked if certain offices were locked.

Despite the questionable safety, the building soon housed a number of different companies and professionals, including insurance agents, stock brokers, and architects. In 1923, the Northern Utilities gas company opened its offices on the third floor. Within a few years, they would make the building even harder to miss by erecting a giant neon sign to advertise their services, creating a bright beacon that stood out from the rest of the street. Later, it would be replaced with a Shell Oil sign.

Eventually, tenancy in the building declined, and taller towers began to spring up downtown. In 1972, the Agency Building was torn down, along with the Capitol Theatre, to make room for a 20-storey tower.

The Agency Building harkens back to a time when a six-storey building could loom over Jasper Avenue. Today, more than a century after it was built, much taller towers now dominate the skyline, with several more in various stages of development. This fall, Edmonton city council approved the zoning for a 31-storey tower on Jasper Avenue and 120 Street.

This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton.

The first wave of migration into Alberta was concentrated in Calgary. But economists predict the growth will spill across Alberta and into small towns as prices in Calgary creep up.

In mid-2024, the city imposed conditions on the Central McDougall building to address criminal activity.

Mariah Gladstone, a Blackfeet and Cherokee baker from Montana, recently spent about 11 hours creating a buffalo jump scene featuring a massive gingerbread cliff, teepees and butchered buffalo 'meat.'

It's likely the last major hurdle that needed to be cleared to build the event centre, the new home of the Calgary Flames.

The Parole Board of Canada says Vader has made some progress, maintaining sobriety since at least 2019 and participating in in-custody programs. But he still poses a high risk to violently reoffend, according to an assessment.

The man accused of killing a security guard inside a central Edmonton apartment building last week has an extensive criminal history of violent crimes dating back more than a decade.

Alberta's police watchdog says a machete-wielding man who set fire to Calgary city hall in 2022 ended up losing a testicle after police shot him nine times with anti-riot guns.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has hired Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee to be her new top bureaucrat.

Suncor Energy Inc. is aiming to increase its oil output next year by up to five per cent as it continues to work to improve its performance and lower costs from its oilsands assets.

The experience is “like a blind dinner party,” says one user. But many people who are new to Calgary seek out these commercial options to help make friends and build community.

Former Alberta premier Rachel Notley is stepping down as MLA for Edmonton-Strathcona.

Food security isn't just a big-city issue. In Lloydminster, a city of about 25,000 people that serves a rural population in two provinces, it’s slim pickings in some fridges and pantries.

RCMP say four people are dead after a highway crash in southern Alberta.

Premier Danielle Smith will be joined by Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis at 9:30 a.m. to announce the new border security measures.

Proposed changes to rules for minor hockey associations in Alberta represent a "radical change" that is likely to provoke mixed feelings for hockey families around the province, says a senior columnist with Sportsnet.

After receiving accolades and financial support from the United Nations, a team that includes the Yellowhead Indigenous Education Foundation, the Indigenous Knowledge & Wisdom Centre, and the Edmonton Shift Lab is gearing up for a wider retail launch of its board game focused on Treaties.

"Because of all the pieces involved, we want to make sure everything's 100% done perfectly well," Sam Singh, a co-founder of the now-shuttered Shift Lab project from Skills Society, told Taproot about Exploring wâhkôhtowin. "Our plan is it'll be out in 2025."

With gameplay designed by Roberta Taylor, Exploring wâhkôhtowin is already playable for free online through Tabletopia. Two to four players traverse the board collecting cards that tell stories about Indigenous-settler relations in history that honour "the spirit of friendship in which the original treaties were signed," reads the Tabletopia page.

"Our intention was to focus on: What does it mean to be a Treaty partner? What does it mean to embody Treaty, currently?" Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, the former executive director of Yellowhead Indigenous Education Foundation and current Alberta New Democratic Party MLA for Edmonton-Rutherford, told Taproot.

Calahoo Stonehouse is a Cree and Mohawk woman from Michel First Nation who was a key collaborator on the project. "We found that there was a missing gap around how we got where we are as Indigenous peoples," she said. "This board game really is meant to be an interactive, accessible way to look at the history of legislation, colonialism policy, and agreements."

Exploring wâhkôhtowin dates back to work that Shift Lab started in 2016, and eventually became one of its three anti-racism prototypes. Shift Lab used systems- and design-thinking to develop the game with the partners, and much of the work took place at Skill Society's Action Lab. The game was funded by the Edmonton Community Foundation, the province, the Edmonton Heritage Council, and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. Its name, "wâhkôhtowin," refers to "the kinship interwoven in relationships, communities, and natural systems."

Years after work on it started, the game is now receiving global attention. In November, Singh travelled to Portugal for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Global Forum, where Exploring wâhkôhtowin was one of 10 projects selected from about 1,800 applicants for recognition by the Intercultural Innovation Hub.

That hub will now provide the Yellowhead Indigenous Education Foundation with a US$20,000 grant, as well as one year of capacity-building and mentorship support to help the game grow.

Singh said the physical version of the board game will be distributed through Pe Metawe Games, an Indigenous-owned game store.

Aimed at players aged 14 and older, Exploring wâhkôhtowin is currently being introduced in classrooms, Singh said.

"We've had school teachers and curriculum developers across Treaty 6 (try the game) — Edmonton Public, Edmonton Catholic, some of the Indigenous programs like Braided Journeys at Edmonton Catholic," he said. "We've had two professors of Indigenous history, one from the University of Saskatchewan, one from the University of Manitoba, who have tried it out as well, and they've all given us good feedback."

The team is continuing to make tweaks and additions to the game before the retail release. "We're still incorporating that feedback to make it as robust and as educating and entertaining as possible," Singh said.

Calahoo Stonehouse and Singh said another perk of recognition from the UN is that it will increase awareness of the game as it nears wider production. Plus, Calahoo Stonehouse said, history continues to be made and influence the way we engage with one another, and reminders of that are built into the game's player experience.

"When you are using not only your mind but also your body and your tactile (sense), you are embodying the process of these experiences by reading, thinking, talking, moving," she said. "It's about how can we fully engage people into recognizing that this history exists on this land. But it still is part of our identity today."

Singh said one reason the Intercultural Innovation Hub recognized the game is because it's "scalable and sustainable."

On that front, Calahoo Stonehouse added that there's potential for an adapted version of the game for other regions in the future. "It could be modified to other stories where colonialism and legislation are perpetuating genocide on a people," Calahoo Stonehouse said. "It's really a model that can be modified, adapted, and transformed."

For those unfamiliar, the same point on genocide is made in paragraph one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, published in 2015.

Calahoo Stonehouse also said she's been uplifted to see the game reach people.

"One of the most beautiful gifts that I've witnessed as an Indigenous person is having my colleagues who are non-Indigenous really lift and push this work, and make sure that it gets to kids and families," Calahoo Stonehouse said. "That is anti-racism, and that is allyship. "That is being a Treaty relative and a Treaty partner, and I'm very thankful for that."

Singh said there's a growing interest in Indigenous games and a board game "boom" in general. He also said he met some Peruvians working on an educational board game about Indigenous peoples in that country during his trip to Portugal. Here at home, the aforementioned Pe Metawe Games carries Indigenous-made titles such as Coyote & Crow. In a similar vein, the Indigenous Knowledge & Wisdom Centre offers a box of educational products called a Treaty Kit. It includes books, a puzzle, and more.

Here are opportunities to inform municipal planning on neighbourhood renewal, business, entertainment, and more. Please only answer surveys from the municipality where you live.

• Wîhkwêntôwin ᐄᐧᐦᑫᐧᐣᑑᐃᐧᐣ Neighbourhood Renewal — The City of Edmonton has produced a second round of design options for the renewal of Wîhkwêntôwin, based on past public engagement. The last chance for residents to provide feedback through a survey is Dec. 13.
• Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) Patron Experience Survey — The City of Edmonton wants to know how residents perceive the 13 BIAs across the city. The organizations are defined as specific geographic areas where local businesses have a formal association that's supported by the City of Edmonton. A short survey can be completed until Dec. 15.
• 104 Street Entertainment District — The City of Edmonton is considering designating part of 104 Street, between Jasper Avenue and 104 Avenue, as an Entertainment District, which would periodically close the street and allow food and alcohol service on it. In spring 2024, nearby Rice Howard Way was piloted as an Entertainment District, and the City wants to "build off of the success of that project." Residents who live, work, or otherwise frequent downtown can complete a survey until Dec. 17.

More input opportunities

• Until Dec. 15: Northeast River Valley Park Strategic Plan (City of Edmonton)
• Until Dec. 15: 2024 Festivals Survey (Town of Morinville)
• Until Dec. 16: ETS Trip Planner Testing Recruitment (City of Edmonton)
• Until Dec. 20: Passenger Rail Master Plan Survey (Government of Alberta)
• Until Dec. 20: Medical assistance in dying engagement (Government of Alberta)
• Until Dec. 20: Towards 40 Survey — 106 Street NW Survey (City of Edmonton)
• Until Dec. 20: Engage and Play: Shaping Public Recreation (City of Edmonton)
• Until Dec. 31: Central Nisku Local Area Redevelopment Plan (Leduc County)
• Until Dec. 31: Business Improvement Areas (BIA) Business Survey (City of Edmonton)
• Until Jan. 5: West Jasper Place Rezoning — 95 Avenue NW (City of Edmonton)
• Until Jan. 5: Strathcona Blok99 Rezoning (City of Edmonton)
• Until Jan. 12: Budget 2025 Consultation (Government of Alberta)
• Until Jan. 15: Building Relationships to Shape Our City: Connecting with under-heard communities (City of Edmonton)
• Until Jan. 15: Land Use Bylaw Redesign (Parkland County)

Hundreds of health-care workers received notification this week that they will transition from Alberta Health Services to the newly launched Primary Care Alberta.

The Alberta government says the number of patients occupying hospital beds without needing that level of care is a key driver of the need to overhaul the provincial health-care system. Such patients are designated alternate level of care, or ALC. Data obtained by CBC News shows that since 2019, thousands of hospital patients have occupied beds while waiting to move into continuing care, paying millions in accommodation fees until they did.

Travis Vader was handed a life sentence in 2017 on two counts of manslaughter in the killings of Lyle and Marie McCann. His sentence came with a parole ineligibility period of seven years.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers filed the complaint with the Canada Industrial Relations Board on Nov. 29 after some workers received temporary layoff notices while on strike.

Alberta's Opposition NDP says the province would become the most corrupt and secretive government in Canada if potential ethics rule changes become law.

Plans for a new health hub, which would have included an overdose prevention site, are not proceeding in Edmonton's Ritchie neighbourhood. Boyle Street Community Services sought a development permit multiple times from the City of Edmonton's Subdivision and Development Appeal Board but was not successful.

Edmonton police officers involved in the fatal shootings of two people, including an innocent bystander, were "lawfully placed and acting in the execution of their duties," according to Alberta's police watchdog.