The Edmonton Public School board has decided to temporarily suspend the school resource officer (SRO) program, which places armed police officers in schools,  while it is reviewed.

Progress Report host Duncan Kinney appears on the very good podcast 49th Parahell to talk about the NBA wildcat strike and what workers can learn from it, why Chrystia Freeland's Nazi collaborator grandfather matters in 2020, the Conservative Party of Canada's new leader Erin O'Toole and where the conservative movement in Canada is going. 

Over the weekend--just two days before schools in Alberta were set to re-open--chief medical officer of health Dr. Hinshaw dropped an announcement that shocked many parents and teachers.

Ministerial Order 33-2020 stipulates that masks and two-meter social distancing will not be mandatory in classrooms.

Recent discourse around monuments venerating Ukrainian Nazi collaborators, such as the monuments in Edmonton and in Oakville, Ontario, is bringing new attention to Canada’s messy entanglement with a burgeoning Ukrainian nationalist movement that historians warn is whitewashing the crimes of Nazi collaborators. 

Since July the Edmonton Police Service has been refusing to respond to inquiries from the Progress Report.

The Edmonton Police Service are buying a new armoured vehicle.

The Edmonton Police Commission confirmed to Progress Alberta today that a budget of $500,000 has been set aside for the purchase, which will be the third of these vehicles added to EPS’s fleet since 2007. It will arrive in Edmonton on an undisclosed date this fall.

We continue our conversation with Laura Kruse on conspiracy theories and Alberta. We dive into Laura's story, McKinsey, 🍞📈, and the UCP’s incoming evisceration of Alberta’s post-secondary system, as well as our favourite conspiracy theories. 

The Kenney administration’s slow war against organized labour continues, and a reckless school reopening in the face of COVID is only days away. Here’s our wrap-up of the week’s political stories in Alberta:

The official name of the Edmonton football team is now officially the Edmonton Football Team. After years of prodding and lobbying the team to change the racist name it finally did so, giving into public pressure after doubling down, over and again.

We speak with Inuk writer, professor and researcher Norma Dunning about her ultimately successful struggle to have the Edmonton CFL team change its racist and insulting team name. We also discuss Norma's powerful writing on Edmonton's actual historical relationship with the Inuit.