Edmonton’s police commission, the body tasked with civilian oversight of the Edmonton Police Service (EPS), held their monthly public meeting this Thursday, and the proceedings were tense. Eight different speakers from the public, all critical of Chief Dale McFee, his recent handling of encampment sweeps and his recently announced plans for an encampment crackdown, rose to protest EPS’ recent activities. Many of those same speakers interrupted Chief McFee’s report to the police commission and walked out after an extended verbal confrontation. 

The Edmonton Police Service promised Wednesday to accelerate the sweeps of encampments in the city, saying that they will be sending many of the displaced people to a “navigation and support centre” whose funding the UCP announced at the same press conference. 

Right in the middle of Mayor Amarjeet Sohi’s grand speech during a two-day special council meeting he called in order to declare a housing and houseless emergency, Roy Cardinal led a walkout, in which he was joined by about 85 per cent of the public gallery.

As the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) were attempting to sweep the encampment at 95 Street and Rowland Road this week, a worker, hired by the city of Edmonton, took down a large sign on the corner of the property. He had to use a sledgehammer to get it down. The text on the sign: “Affordable Housing For Sale.”

One of the only places offering drop-in services to vulnerable and unhoused youth in Edmonton will be shutting its doors March 31st, and an alternative space has yet to be found. 

“It’s like parenting, we don’t always give them candy, sometimes they need to eat their vegetables too. And that vegetable sometimes is jail.”

New rent  cap legislation proposed by Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood’s NDP MLA Janis Irwin could ease the pain of Alberta’s struggling tenants. But the bill’s got two big problems: the governing United Conservative Party, which holds a dominating majority in the Legislature, doesn't want to pass it. And it’s not entirely clear that the Alberta NDP wants to pass it, either.

Despite their political differences, Justin Trudeau and Danielle Smith agree on at least one issue: they want companies to start pulling lithium, cobalt and other critical minerals out of the ground ASAP. And while Danielle Smith is doing everything humanly possible to extend the reign of oil and gas in Alberta, critical minerals offer up dreams of a new gold rush, especially as the American empire becomes even more aggressive towards the one country that controls most of the world’s critical mineral supply–China.

Leaked audio provides details on how Take Back Alberta (TBA), in concert with a loose coalition of far right groups, are meeting monthly and working on building a slate of candidates to take over school boards in the 2025 municipal elections. After they win, TBA founder David Parker and his allies plan to purge the education system of workers and administrators who believe in basic rights, protections and dignity for 2SLGBTQ+ students and workers. 

The Edmonton Police Service’s and the City of Edmonton’s plan to conduct the largest homeless encampment sweep in city history just before Christmas was temporarily foiled by lawyers representing the Coalition for Justice and Human Rights.