Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA)

Imagine spending years in prison without being charged with a crime or knowing exactly what you're accused of. This presentation is a sobering examination of the Canadian government’s use of security certificates, a Kafkaesque tool that allows for indefinite detention without charges, based on evidence not revealed to the accused or their lawyers. Since 1999, this rare and highly controversial dev...

Imagine spending years in prison without being charged with a crime or knowing exactly what you're accused of. This presentation is a sobering examination of the Canadian government’s use of security certificates, a Kafkaesque tool that allows for indefinite detention without charges, based on evidence not revealed to the accused or their lawyers. Since 1999, this rare and highly controversial dev...

Democracy is for all intentional purposes based on mutual respect, which means free and fair elections, human rights, and ethical government. How well are we doing with current standards of ethics in politics and the public service, how successfully are they enforced, and how could they be improved? These standards involve conflicts of interest, lobbying, election financing, whistleblowing, expens...

Democracy is for all intentional purposes based on mutual respect, which means free and fair elections, human rights, and ethical government. How well are we doing with current standards of ethics in politics and the public service, how successfully are they enforced, and how could they be improved? These standards involve conflicts of interest, lobbying, election financing, whistleblowing, expens...

CKXU began as CKUL in 1972, when a public address system was set up in Section A of University Hall at the University of Lethbridge to broadcast musical content inside the building during the day. The station was managed by the University of Lethbridge Students' Union. The CKUL Radio Society was incorporated in Oct. 1977, to govern the affairs of the station, and a year later the CRTC granted the...

CKXU began as CKUL in 1972, when a public address system was set up in Section A of University Hall at the University of Lethbridge to broadcast musical content inside the building during the day. The station was managed by the University of Lethbridge Students' Union. The CKUL Radio Society was incorporated in Oct. 1977, to govern the affairs of the station, and a year later the CRTC granted the...

What is meant by civil liberties? According to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, civil liberties are protecting those freedoms that are considered fundamental in a democratic society. These fundamental freedoms include freedom of opinion, thought, belief and expression, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience and religion, and freedom of association and peaceful assembly. It is almo...

What is meant by civil liberties? According to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, civil liberties are protecting those freedoms that are considered fundamental in a democratic society. These fundamental freedoms include freedom of opinion, thought, belief and expression, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience and religion, and freedom of association and peaceful assembly. It is almo...

ECMap was an Alberta Government funded 5-year project that worked to raise community awareness of the results of an intensive study on the readiness of Alberta’s children for kindergarten. The Government invested 26 million dollars to gather Early Development Instrument (EDI) data, interpret it, and share the results with communities province-wide. We learned that Alberta’s kindergarten children a...

ECMap was an Alberta Government funded 5-year project that worked to raise community awareness of the results of an intensive study on the readiness of Alberta’s children for kindergarten. The Government invested 26 million dollars to gather Early Development Instrument (EDI) data, interpret it, and share the results with communities province-wide. We learned that Alberta’s kindergarten children a...

A motion to mandate that Alberta schools support the creation of student-led gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in schools where students have requested it, was defeated in the Alberta Legislature early last year. In late 2014 two Bills dealing with the same student-led gay-straight alliances were brought before the legislature. The first, Bill 202, was a private members Bill, which prompted the Govern...

A motion to mandate that Alberta schools support the creation of student-led gay-straight alliances (GSAs) in schools where students have requested it, was defeated in the Alberta Legislature early last year. In late 2014 two Bills dealing with the same student-led gay-straight alliances were brought before the legislature. The first, Bill 202, was a private members Bill, which prompted the Govern...

Lethbridge residents could send a lot less garbage to the landfill if a city-wide curbside organics recycling program were to be implemented. Diverting residential food and yard waste from the landfill could save not only valuable landfill space, it could also eliminate much of the methane that organics generate in a landfill. It is well known that recycling organics is better for the environment...

Lethbridge residents could send a lot less garbage to the landfill if a city-wide curbside organics recycling program were to be implemented. Diverting residential food and yard waste from the landfill could save not only valuable landfill space, it could also eliminate much of the methane that organics generate in a landfill. It is well known that recycling organics is better for the environment...

On March 16, 2009, the Alberta Government announced an ambitious plan to end homelessness in this province, the first to make such declaration in Canada. This plan saw a shift from relying on emergency shelters to manage the problem and instead use Housing First principles to create not only housing stability but diversion from future homelessness. From a financial perspective, simply managing hom...

On March 16, 2009, the Alberta Government announced an ambitious plan to end homelessness in this province, the first to make such declaration in Canada. This plan saw a shift from relying on emergency shelters to manage the problem and instead use Housing First principles to create not only housing stability but diversion from future homelessness. From a financial perspective, simply managing hom...

The Canadian Government recently passed Bill C-36, the “Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act” in response to a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that found many parts of the existing law concerning prostitution in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and therefore unconstitutional. At first glance, the Government seems to have accomplished exactly what they intended...

The Canadian Government recently passed Bill C-36, the “Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act” in response to a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada that found many parts of the existing law concerning prostitution in violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and therefore unconstitutional. At first glance, the Government seems to have accomplished exactly what they intended...

In December 2014 Danielle Smith and eight members of her caucus announced that they were crossing the floor to join the Progressive Conservatives and Premier Jim Prentice. The announcement elicited a great deal of vitriolic responses from the public and reignited calls for floor crossing to be banned or at least for floor crossers to require a by-election to sit as a member of another party. The s...

In December 2014 Danielle Smith and eight members of her caucus announced that they were crossing the floor to join the Progressive Conservatives and Premier Jim Prentice. The announcement elicited a great deal of vitriolic responses from the public and reignited calls for floor crossing to be banned or at least for floor crossers to require a by-election to sit as a member of another party. The s...

Russia’s annexation of Crimea has called into question the future of Arctic cooperation. After years of working together on pollution prevention, search and rescue, shipping and fisheries management, people are asking: Can we trust Russia to behave differently in the North than it is behaving in the South? Michael Byers has just returned from a term as a Visiting Professor at the University of Nov...

Russia’s annexation of Crimea has called into question the future of Arctic cooperation. After years of working together on pollution prevention, search and rescue, shipping and fisheries management, people are asking: Can we trust Russia to behave differently in the North than it is behaving in the South? Michael Byers has just returned from a term as a Visiting Professor at the University of Nov...

Those two simple greetings are the subject of much controversy and cause headaches for many at this time of the year. It is difficult enough dealing with the pressures of “getting ready” before relatives and friends arrive in late December, or going over one’s budget spending for presents and the host of other related holiday expenses. But these anxieties are compounded by not knowing how to greet...

Those two simple greetings are the subject of much controversy and cause headaches for many at this time of the year. It is difficult enough dealing with the pressures of “getting ready” before relatives and friends arrive in late December, or going over one’s budget spending for presents and the host of other related holiday expenses. But these anxieties are compounded by not knowing how to greet...

A spirit-lifting journey into some of the planet’s best wilderness locations. His passion for remote travel will be revealed as only Brian can do, with his buoyant method of storytelling. Using humour and personal anecdotes and his own live-narrated video segments, he’ll take you into gin-clear ocean depths with unbelievable creatures, to deserts and rich tropical forests, and to places where wild...