Members of CUPE 882 were set to go on strike if they did not a tentative agreement with the City of Prince Albert by Sept. 11 – This would be the first ever strike from municipal employees.
“CUPE 882 doesn’t want to go on strike. We want to reach a deal at the table,” said vice-president Cara Stelmaschuk.
The union represents workers at City Hall and recreation facilities such as the Frank J. Dunn Pool, Art Hauser Centre, EA Rawlinson Centre, Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse and the Arts Centre.
Prince Albert Pride said that they would continue to advocate against education policy changes in the province after the policy was announced.
Pride President Chelsea Bleau said they’re frustrated with the announcement last week by former Education Minister Dustin Duncan that parent and guardian consent for students under 16 will now be required to change a student’s name or pronouns in the school they were emboldened.
“I was feeling was mostly fear and anger,” said Bleau, who grew up in Esterhazy and uses they/them pronouns. “It also brought up a lot of past trauma from being in school.
A lawsuit against Ward 7 Coun. Dawn Kilmer and the City of Prince Albert by former City Councillor Evert Botha has been quietly withdrawn, and city council will vote on whether to help cover her legal fees at a meeting in September
“Mr. Botha did not accept the invitation to discontinue his lawsuit before Councillor Kilmer and the City each incurred legal costs to file evidence contradicting Botha’s public allegation,” reads the report. “Nor did Botha retract or correct his public allegations or comments concerning Councillor Kilmer’s integrity and ethics.” City Solicitor Mitchell Holash wrote in a report to council.
Members of James Smith Cree Nation asked for space to heal on Sept. 4,2023 to mark one year since the mass murder that left 11 people dead and 17 injured on Sept. 4, 2022.
“I would like to say and acknowledge that the system has failed us,” Chief Wally Burns said, pointing to residential schools, colonialism, and the high numbers of Indigenous people in jails as symptoms that he said helped create incidents like the mass killing.
The Prince Albert Legion Branch No. 2 had seven days of activities planned for their inaugural Legion Week.
Some Canadian Legion branches have celebrated Legion Week since the 1980s, but this will be the first year Saskatchewan Legions takes part. The event is spreading across Canada for 2023, and runs from Sept. 17-23.
The City of Prince Albert proclaimed Sept. 17 to 23 as Legion Week in the City. Legion President Rick Hodgson was pleased to see the event on the calendar so that the local Legion can be celebrated.
Prince Albert City Council approved a motion to increase the design budget on the new Events Centre by $700,000 at their regular meeting on Sept. 7.
This came after Ward 2 Coun. Terra Lennox-Zepp moved that the City cancel pursuit of the Event Centre design, which was seconded by Ward 1 Coun. Charlene Miller.
Lennox-Zepp objected because this was only the design phase and there had been no public consultation.
“We have not yet had any meaningful public consultation to indicate if the public wants to pay these dollars to pursue this item,” she said. Members of the City of Prince Albert said they’re prepared to go six months without inside workers, and possibly more, as members of CUPE Local 882 officially hit the picket line on Monday.
Members of the City of Prince Albert said they’re prepared to go six months without inside workers, and possibly more, as members of CUPE Local 882 officially hit the picket line on Sept. 11.
“In terms of services today, it is business as usual for us,” Corporate Services Director Kiley Bear told reporters. “We have put back-up plans to have services available as normal for now. Areas of our operation are under review as the days go by and we’ll continue to assess, but as of today, it’s business as usual.”
For the 2023-2024 school year Carlton Comprehensive will have a new principal in Jennifer Ferguson.
Ferguson replaced Jeff Court who took an opportunity to become a superintendent of education with Saskatchewan Rivers.
“I’ve been saying that this is the place I grew up as a teacher, really and learned how to be the best teacher I could be. And so I’m really happy to be back here and be able to be in this environment,” Ferguson said.
Former Terry Fox Award winner and Prince Albert cancer survivor Chelsea Mitchell had the opportunity to meet the woman who helped save her life in 2023
Mitchell is a childhood cancer survivor who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in July 2013 at the age of 12. She survived after receiving a peripheral blood stem cell transplant on March 20, 2014 from a donor in Poland. In August 2023, she had a chance to meet the woman who provided the donation that saved her.
“It was a very, very emotional meeting, extremely emotional,” Mitchell said.
Cyclists from across Prince Albert gathered at the Alfred Jenkins Field House on Sept, 23 to raise money for mental health services and programs in Prince Albert.
Participants hopped on their bikes for the second-ever Ride for Refuge for Catholic Family Services with the goal of raising $50,000 for the organization. The event nearly hit that mark, finishing with $49,142 raised as of publication.
“We have all ages (and) we’re thrilled with the turnout,” organizer Margaret Duncombe said.
Local nurse Carolyn Brost Strom will represent the NDP as their candidate in Prince Albert Carlton after winning a contested nomination on Sept. 28.
Brost Strom defeated local teacher and former NDP candidate Troy Parenteau to win the nomination. Strom said she was excited to jump into her new role.
“It’s pretty humbling to have people put their trust in you to be a representative to try and make things better for the people in PA,” she said. “It’s been quite a campaign, but I’m looking forward to the next step.”
It was the end of one era and the beginning of another for the Salvation Army Thrift Store on Central Avenue.
Sept. 29 was the last day of operations for the Thrift Store, but Major Ed Dean of the Prince Albert Salvation Army said it was not the end of Salvation Army service in the downtown, it’s simply a transition to better meet the community’s needs.
“The Salvation Army has been in this community for 130 years. We’re just readjusting focus,” Dean said.
Sports
It was an eventful morning for the Prince Albert Northern Bears as the team announced a new major sponsor.
Mann-Northway will be a long-term major sponsor for the team moving forward. Mann-Northway Dealer Principal Mark Ripley says the dealership is excited to help the team.
“It’s just another thing that we want to do in the community. We had the opportunity when Al (Dyer) asked us if we could do it and immediately, we said, ‘yes, we think it’s fantastic.’ The team has been around in the city for a number of years and for us to be able to come in and show some support and help out. We couldn’t be more excited, to be honest with you.
A little bit of smoke on Sept. 3 didn’t deter the Prince Albert U13 AA Royals as they took home a Western championship banner with a 4-1 over the Consort Cubs at Kinsmen Baseball Complex.
The 2023 U13 AA Westerns were originally scheduled to take place in Kelowna, B.C. last month, but were cancelled and eventually rescheduled in Prince Albert.
Royals head coach Jason Van Otterloo says the whole experience that involved the tournament being cancelled and relocated to Prince Albert was worthwhile.
It was an unforgettable Sept. 18 for Prince Albert’s Brooke Hobson.
Hobson was selected in the 8th round, with the 45th overall pick by New York in the first ever Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) draft.
“I’m just really excited and I just want to make sure I want to thank everybody who’s helped me get here along the way from previous teammates to my friends, my families and all the coaches and trainers that I’ve had. I just want to make sure that they know that they’re a part of this movement in women’s hockey, too,” Hobson said.
The Carlton Crusaders football team had an efficient evening on their way to a 51-14 win over the Ecole St. Mary Marauders in the 11th annual Canadian Tire Classic at Max Clunie Field on Sept. 22.
The Crusaders led for most of the evening thanks to a four touchdown and 140 yard rushing performance from running back Rylan Morrison. Crusaders’ Coach Lindsay Strachan said it was an important win for the team.
“We overcame a little adversity early there with that long touchdown that we gave up,” Strachan said. “I just thought we did a really good job to regain our composure. (The) offence came back and scored right away.”
Arts
A summer-long poetry project wrapped up with an open mic.
Lynda Monahan, with support from the City of Prince Albert, put out a call for poetry submissions inspired by the word hope.
She narrowed down over 70 submissions to 30 – 10 of which were displayed in sign posts along the riverbank, and the rest displayed in shop windows and throughout the mall downtown.
Monahan has invited 10 of those poets to read their work aloud in memorial square on Saturday, Sept. 9, at 11 a.m. Afterwards, other writers can step up to the mic and read their poems about hope. “I think this project has been a very positive thing for downtown PA in many ways. We’ve certainly had lots of really good feedback about the work and people have enjoyed reading the poems,” said Monahan.
