At a Glance - June 13, 2023

Cardston Residents Vote on Prohibition

Cardston Alberta, which has held a ban on alcohol sales for more than a century – since 1902 – held a plebiscite this week to gauge public opinion on the continuation of this ban. In a narrow result, 53% of residents voted in favour of ending the ban. However, as plebiscites are non-binding, the final decision will be made by Cardston’s mayor and town council.

Cardston’s history as a dry-town stems from its religious background. Founded by Mormon settlers in 1887, when the province of Alberta enacted a liquor ban from 1916 to 1923, Cardston opted to keep the ban as the Mormon Church prohibits the consumption of alcohol, as well as coffee and tea.  According to 2021 Census data, Mormons still comprise sixty-two percent of the town’s population.

However, in recent years the town’s population has become younger, which explains why a 2014 plebiscite on the same issue was rejected by two out of every three residents while this plebiscite received support from over half of the population.

Matthew De Grood’s case returns to the Alberta Court of Appeal:

The Alberta Court of Appeal has been asked to overturn a decision that confined Matthew De Grood, 31, to a supervised Edmonton group home. De Grood was found not criminally responsible in 2016 for the 2014 killings of five young people at a Calgary house party. It was found that he was suffering from undiagnosed schizophrenia at the time of the killings.

A review board decision made in September of 2022, confined de Grood to an Edmonton group home. The appellant’s lawyer, Jacqueline Petrie, argues he should be allowed to live with his parent while being monitored under a full warrant as he has been stable on medication and is at low risk to re-offend.  

Petrie argues that the decision made by the review board was biased, claiming that former Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer influenced the review by weighing in on de Grood’s case in October of 2019 after the panel allowed de Grood to transition from institutional care to a supervised group home. Petrie also argues that the review board misunderstood medical evidence during the September 2022 review, which deemed de Grood a significant risk despite the assessment showing improvements.

In response to the arguments made by Petrie, crown prosecutor Mathew Greiner said that while the board considered a conditional discharge, it was dismissed as De Grood had a relapse in his schizophrenia in 2021. Reading from an experts report, Justice Kevin Freehan stated that while De Grood is low-risk for a relapse that does not mean that the relapse wouldn’t be severe.

Edmonton Teacher Under Fire

Londonderry School issued a statement after a recent recording of a teacher circulated on social media. The teacher can be heard telling students that it is “unacceptable” they skipped class to avoid attending pride-related events.

The unidentified teacher stated that there were no complaints from peers when Ramadan was acknowledged during school. She then went on to say, “it goes two ways. If you want to be respected for who you are, if you don’t want to suffer prejudice for your religion, your colour of skin or whatever, then you better give it back to people who are different from you.” The teacher then ended her rant stating that if the students didn’t believe in LBTQ+ rights, “you can’t be Canadian. You don’t belong here.”

In response to the recording, the National Council of Canadian Muslims tweeted, saying the incident was “deeply concerning” and “Islamophobic.” The NCCM has also stated that they will be reaching out to the school and are considering potential legal action.

Alberta Wildfire Update:

While Alberta wildfires continue to burn and are expected to continue throughout the summer, experts say, this may be favourable for some ecosystems. Wildfires allow new plant growth in forests as the burning of densely populated trees allows light to reach the forest floor, enabling new greenery to grow, which is beneficial to animals like moose, elk, deer, and bears.

Danielle Smith announced she will be bringing in arson investigators from outside the province to trace the cause of the unprecedented wildfires in Alberta. Some have accused her of downplaying the link between wildfires and climate change.