The Calgary Police Service says its mental health program is making a difference in reducing stigma and building resiliency within the force, and has now attracted the attention of law enforcement agencies from around the world.

Representatives from Scotland, the Netherlands and California attended a symposium held in Calgary in late September to learn about the service’s Road to Mental Readiness or R2MR program and are now looking to adopt a similar initiative, after hearing about the successes within the city’s police force.

And the facilitators who brought R2MR to the Calgary Police Service — the first municipal police organization in Canada to offer the program — are hoping the program’s reach will continue to grow.

“There have been some life-altering cases and game-changers for certain people,” said Kyle Clapperton, manager of the health, safety and wellness section at the Calgary Police Service. “We’re seeing a reduction in stigma and an uptick in seeking resources early. That’s a great positive of the program.”

City police first learned of the Department of National Defence’s R2MR program, used by members of the Canadian Armed Forces, in 2012, and started researching how they could reconfigure the program to fit a law enforcement context.

Sgt. Sergio Falzi, the Calgary Police Service’s peer support co-ordinator at the time, and Theresa Shaw, wellness co-ordinator, worked with the Mental Health Commission of Canada and Alberta Health Services to adapt R2MR as a pilot project. The program was later adopted by the police service in late 2014.

“What was really important for us was, the program needed to build resiliency and be taught at a peer level so that it became something that really became rooted and grounded into the Calgary Police culture,” Clapperton said.

Kyle Clipperton with the Calgary Police health, safety and wellness section manager and Andrew Szeto, researcher and assistant professor at the U of C talk about the mental health of police in Calgary on Sept. 29, 2015. 

Andrew Szeto, a researcher and associate professor with the University of Calgary’s department of psychology, said R2MR is geared toward stigma reduction, building resiliency, and teaching people to be more aware of the state of their mental health.

Members are trained to use evidence-based skills, including positive self-talk, smart goal-setting, visualization, and diaphragmatic breathing to help manage stress and increase performance. The skills are meant to be applied to work and personal life scenarios, he added.

“Obviously, policing is a stressful job. There are tragic events that happen, they have to deal with life or death situations,” Szeto said. “But really, the program is an excellent resource that helps police members increase their skills so they can deal with those stressors, the demands they experience in a policing environment.”

Clapperton couldn’t give specific examples, but says the tools can help officers when they attend calls.

“They can visualize some of the possibilities that are going to occur in the call and think about how they can respond to them. They can use diaphragmatic breathing to calm themselves, and be able to perform at a high level. It’s about controlling arousal and being ready to perform at their best.”

Szeto said he’s also noticed, through focus groups and interviews, that members are accessing resources earlier and more frequently.

To date, nearly 2,000 members of the Calgary Police Service — about three-quarters of the force — have received the training, and more than 50 members have been coached to be peer trainers. The program is part of regular training for new recruits, and facilitators are currently testing a family version of the program.

Overall, about 8,000 members within law enforcement agencies across Canada — including in Edmonton, Vancouver, Quebec and the Maritimes — have received the training.

“We’re getting quite a bit of interest,” Szeto said. “We’re looking to further spread the program internationally.”

cho@calgaryherald.com

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Real estate developer Chris Dobbin says he was brought up in a “nominal” Christian household.

And as he got older he went away from any aspect of the faith.

“I really never went back. I wasn’t interested. I kind of thought that religion was for people that needed it. And I really didn’t think I did. I formed my own company and paid my own way. I was a self-made guy,” says Dobbin, adding that he was kind of anti-faith for a big part of his life.

Dobbin is the main speaker at this year’s 47th Annual Calgary Leadership Prayer Breakfast on October 15 at the Westin Hotel.

That self-made man became a success story. Successful at being a concert promoter. Then successful in real estate development, particularly in the northwest Kensington neighbourhood.

But in the late 1980s he started having questions about the spiritual life.

His wife was already going to church and found comfort in Christianity and following Jesus Christ. Dobbin saw the change and transformation in her life.

So one morning in 1988 he decided to open the Bible and start reading. He began with the Gospel of John.

“I got to the point where it said ‘you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free’. It jumped into my heart. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I was reading was true. I just broke down and wept. Everything changed,” says Dobbin.

Ivan Juul-Hansen, one of the organizers of the leadership prayer breakfast, says between 550 to 600 people typically attend the event on an annual basis.

“Mainly I look for (a speaker) that can tell the people how being a Christian affects their life, their business or whatever it might be,” he says.

That speaker is someone who can be a witness to their faith and inspiring to other people.

More information on the event can be found at http://www.calgaryprayerbreakfast.com/

Juul-Hansen said the Calgary Leadership Prayer Breakfast serves as a way to re-affirm people’s faith in God in a public fashion and it is an opportunity to participate in fellowship.

The 63-year-old Dobbin, who is the chief executive of The Dobbin Group, started his concert promotion company in 1973 and over six years produced more than 200 concerts in Western Canada including the Eagles’ McMahon Stadium show in 1978.

He then turned to real estate. His company has been heavily involved in the Kensington area with buying and restoring older buildings as well as redevelopment of new projects.

He’s served on various boards and committees including the Calgary Planning Commission, Calgary Parking Authority, Calgary Urban Projects Society, Links Fellowship, as well as being involved with World Vision.

His transformation from a self-made man to a man of faith has had a huge impact on his life.

“I no longer took my identity as something external. My identity was no longer husband, father, business man. What I had. What I did. My identity became a child of God and I started to see life through that lens. And as I did all the opinions and things that I had thought before to be true turned out kind of not to be,” says Dobbin.

He was previously living an “illusion” as a self-made man but his purpose became celebrating the mercy, love, life, peace, joy and forgiveness found in living with Christ on a daily basis.

While Calgary grapples with an economic recession this year that has led to thousands of job layoffs, the successful businessman has some words of advice for people experiencing these turbulent times.

“We all live by faith. All of us,” says Dobbin, adding that where a person puts their faith is important.

He says that no one knows the future but if they put their faith in Christ they can be assured that no matter what trials and tribulations they are going through that they are not alone. They have an advocate that will help them get through the storms in life.

“It has been my experience that prayer changes things,” says Dobbin.

mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com

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Extending from Alberta’s top mountain resort through the Stoney Nation to diverse communities such as Cochrane and Crossfield, Banff-Airdrie is a sprawling new federal riding whose voters have been as blue as they come.

In 2011, Conservative Blake Richards swept the former Wild Rose riding with 75 per cent support — a historic peak for the constituency, which was once the bastion of former Reform and Conservative MP Myron Thompson.

The riding includes Airdrie and Cochrane, two of the fastest-growing municipalities in Canada, where social services can barely keep up with new housing developments. Similar growing pains have hit Canmore and Banff, whose tourism industries have relied on temporary foreign workers.

Blake Richards, federal Conservative Party candidate for Banff-Airdrie.

And while Richards was voted “Hardest Working” and “Best Constituency” member of Parliament in a national survey last fall by the Hill Times, his opponents claim the former realtor hasn’t been present to address some of these major issues.

Richards’ campaign declined a phone interview, but in a written statement he touted the federal Conservative government’s job plan and tax credits.

He wrote that his party “has focused on what matters to Canadians; such as lowering taxes, and protecting and creating jobs.” The former parliamentary tourism caucus chair also noted growing revenue in the tourism industry, a key sector for the region.

But NDP candidate Joanne Boissonneault took aim at Richards, claiming “he’s worked halftime as an MP.”

Joanne Boissonneault, federal New Democratic Party candidate for Banff-Airdrie.

And Liberal candidate Marlo Raynolds said Richards “has had a very short leash” as a MP, restricted to speaking from party talking points.

Boissonneault is hoping to ride on the orange wave that swept Alberta provincially last May, and touted her party’s economic plan. She’s “pushing for a hospital in Airdrie” and said other municipalities in the expanding area have infrastructure needs.

“My plan is to bring that voice to Ottawa and work with the people,” said the college instructor, pledging a lower small-business tax and flexible plans for manufacturers.

Marlo Raynolds, federal Liberal Party candidate for Banff-Airdrie.

Raynolds said businesses are struggling in the area, whether it’s Banff restaurants reeling from the temporary foreign worker overhaul by the Tory government, or the Canmore businesses whose employees can’t find affordable housing.

The oilsands and wind-energy engineer says he’s running “to put a stop to Mr. Harper’s very divisive approach to politics.”

Green candidate Mike MacDonald echoed his NDP and Liberal opponents on economic policy.

Mike MacDonald, federal Green Party candidate for Banff-Airdrie.

But he feels both parties aren’t natural choices for Albertans, and believes the federal government has strayed from its small-government roots while letting the health-care system become dysfunctional.

“People are disgruntled in the conservative heartland,” said MacDonald, a children’s counsellor who likened the federal Conservatives to their provincial Progressive Conservative cousins.

“It’s a little more up in the air this time.”

Banff-Airdrie candidates:

Joanne Boissonneault, Party: NDP, Age: “In my 50s,” Political experience: Teachers’ association district representative.

Mike MacDonald, Party: Green, Age: 45, Political experience: Ran in 2011 election.

Marlo Raynolds, Party: Liberal, Age: 42, Political experience: First campaign.

Blake Richards, Party: Conservative, Age: 40, Political experience: member of Parliament for Wild Rose since 2008.

A map of the Banff-Airdrie riding.

Related

• Election Map: Find out who's running in your riding

Online dating took a sinister turn for some women who told police a man they met online solicited them for money.

Calgary police reported Tuesday that, in March, a man convinced a woman to give him cash in exchange for a cheque allegedly worth $550, but the cheque bounced. She did not hear from the man again.

Investigators received similar reports from women who said men they met on online dating sites asked them for money.

Dallon Kyle Johnstone, 28, who may also go by Kyle Zirelli, is wanted on an Alberta-wide warrant for fraud under $5,000. He described as Caucasian, standing about six feet tall, weighing 200 pounds, with brown hair and eyes. He has a tattoo on his right forearm that says, “West 2012.”

Police say anyone with information about the case should call them or Crime Stoppers.

The chief of the Blood Tribe says a fire that ripped through a hay processing plant on the reserve, causing millions of dollars in damages, delivered a crushing blow to the band which relies heavily on agriculture for economic development.

The weekend fire engulfed a shed that contained premium hay that was destined for overseas customers and was worth an estimated US$2.1 million in revenues for the Blood Tribe, the largest First Nation by area in Canada. The shed was valued at $1 million when it was built in 2003.

“It’s a devastating loss to the tribe; it sets back our operations immensely,” Weaselhead told reporters. “We’re doing the investigation; we hope to come out of it one way or the other and continue our operations.”

Fire crews from Lethbridge, Nobleford and Fort Macleod helped Blood Tribe firefighters contain the blaze on the southern Alberta reserve after flames ignited late Friday and continued to burn into Saturday morning.

The fire is under control, but it continued to smoulder Tuesday. Weaselhead said fire crews remained on standby in case conditions changed.

A fire at a hay plant caused millions of dollars in damage over the weekend.

“We spent the majority of the last few days trying to protect all of the other structures in their compound,” said Blood fire Chief Oscar Cotton.

The fire is under investigation.

A press release issued by the Blood Tribe’s agricultural branch said the blaze was considered suspicious. But Blood Tribe police said Tuesday they were still awaiting confirmation from the fire investigator whether it was suspicious.

Cotton said he was not investigating the fire, but he cautioned that bales of hay that are not properly dried can spontaneously combust.

“Just because it’s a fire doesn’t mean somebody started it,” the fire chief said. “It’s possible it spontaneously started, so investigators do have to look at all avenues.”

Surveillance cameras in the area were well-placed to capture footage of the fire, though they were damaged by the heat and flames, said Calvin Cross Child, general manager of the band’s agricultural project.

Established in 1995, the hay processing plant is located on the north end of the Blood reserve, about 30 kilometres west of Lethbridge.

The destroyed shed, which was among eight storage facilities, was about 80,000 square metres in size and contained 5,000 metric tonnes of hay destined for international markets. The Blood Tribe’s agricultural branch transports processed hay to Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, among other countries.

The processing plant is one of the band’s largest employers, with up to 100 workers at its peak during harvest. About 30 people work there full time.

“Because of the economic downturn and everything like that, we rely on our agricultural economic development,” Weaselhead said. “The loss in regards to the shed, the inventory of forage … it’s a negative concern for me.”

With files from James Wood, Calgary Herald

rsouthwick@calgaryherald.com

Mounties in Airdrie are looking for links in a spate of suspicious fires in the city and surrounding rural areas over the past two weeks.

Authorities in the city north of Calgary have responded to nine fires in 13 days, with some of them occurring the same day.

Since Oct. 1, they have discovered a range of different objects on fire, including a garbage can, newspaper stand, barn, unoccupied RV, straw bales and even homes.

@TomBabin that's nuts time lapse of the Balzac one http://t.co/3UkUeXR8mU

—
CByron (@stillbee) October 13, 2015

Emergency crews were called Monday to the Ravenswood neighbourhood in southeast Airdrie where several town houses under construction were on fire. No one was injured.

The same day, crews responded to a structure fire on 264 Township Road in Balzac.

RCMP said they are investigating whether any or all of these incidents are connected. They are asking anyone with information about the fires to call them.

Mounties say residents should be vigilant and report any suspicious people or vehicles.

A 26-year-old mother of two has been identified as the victim in a homicide investigation in Ranchlands.

Officers discovered the body of Christa Cachene of Calgary after they were called at around 5:30 p.m. Sunday to the 0 to 100 block of Ranchlands Bay N.W. for reports of a suspicious death. They found a woman dead at the scene.

Facebook photo of Christa Cachene, the victim in a suspicious death in Ranchlands Monday, Oct. 12, 2015.

Police believe a party attended by between eight and 12 people was hosted at Cachene’s home Saturday evening.

“From our investigation, we believe (the incident) happened sometime after midnight,” said Staff Sgt. Colin Chisholm of the CPS Homicide Unit. “Right now, it appears that there was some violence that took place within the residence.”

Cachene’s children were not home at the time.

Investigators have spoken to some of the people who attended the party, Chisholm said. Not all of them have been co-operative, and he added that police still want to talk to anyone else who was there.

Staff Sgt. Colin Chisholm talks to media on the two homicides that occurred on the weekend, one in Ranchlands and the other in the Beltline area in Calgary on Oct. 13, 2015.

Officers also received reports of a car prowling sometime after midnight the same night, though it’s unknown if the two incidents are connected.

Police had previously been called to the residence on “unrelated matters,” Chisholm said.

Police say anyone with information about the case should call them or Crime Stoppers.

A then 13-year-old boy has admitted he was involved in the fatal stabbing of a “hobo” after he and a 16-year-old boy befriended and robbed the 45-year-old man of his backpack near Marlborough Mall last year.

The teen, who cannot be named because of his age, pleaded guilty Tuesday to being a party to manslaughter on what was to be the opening day of his second-degree murder trial into the death of Gabriel Okeynan on June 24, 2014.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Okeynan told police in hospital that he had met three native kids on June 21 outside Marlborough CTrain station.

Okeynan told police the boys wanted to go for a walk with him, then wanted to go for a beer.

He said they hit him with a club, then all of them attacked him. He said a boy with long hair had a knife, which was used to stab him, then took his backpack.

Police said Okeynan told them the stabbing took place in the parking lot on the side of the mall near Walmart at Memorial Drive and 36th St. N.E.

The 13-year-old told a cousin in a Facebook conversation that he had stabbed a hobo once in the back and twice in the leg after the man tried to rob him. He also said he cut his hair after the incident. The Facebook messages were deleted and never recovered.

However, according to the agreed facts, the Crown conceded the evidence does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the 13-year-old was the stabber.

The victim died from stab wounds to the back of the left thigh and left lower back three days after the incident.

The 13-year-old agreed he was involved in and participated in the assault and robbery of the victim, and that during the attack a knife was produced and Okeynan was stabbed and died as a result of the stabbing.

Justice Scott Brooker ordered pre-sentence and psychiatric-psychological reports to be prepared for sentencing arguments on Nov. 9.

The 16-year-old boy’s trial, which will now only be on manslaughter, begins Wednesday before Brooker.

dslade@calgaryherald.com

Twitter.com/heraldcourt

A jailhouse picture showing a former Calgary man posing with an assortment of gangsters played a role in undermining his bid to avoid living in a halfway house when he gets out of prison.

Anthony William Beare told authorities he has renounced the criminal ties that landed him a 9½-year sentence for weapons and drug offences, but the Parole Board of Canada said a recent snapshot showing Beare with bikers, a Mafioso and a leader of B.C.’s notorious Red Scorpions gang demonstrates otherwise.

“A picture taken in late July 2015 shows you surrounded by members of the Hells Angels, as well as the Italian organized crime … gang member and the leader of the Red Scorpion street gang,” the parole board wrote in a recent review of Beare’s file.

Beare, 36, was convicted of 14 offences stemming from a cache of illegal guns, homemade pipe bombs, ammunition and drugs police found inside his home near Calgary in 2008. At the time, he was part of an emerging group that called itself the 403 Soldiers, which had aligned itself with Calgary’s FOB gang.

A decade-long war between FOB and the rival FOB Killers (FK) was responsible for at least 25 homicides in the Calgary area between 2002 and 2009. In addition to the drugs and weapons, investigators who raided Beare’s home also found an internal police document that contained the names and pictures of several FK members.

Just 10 days after the raid on Beare’s home, the FOB gang killed three people — including FK member Sanjeev Mann — at the Bolsa restaurant in southeast Calgary. Real Christian Honorio, who was arrested in the raid at Beare’s home, is awaiting trial on three charges of first-degree murder in connection with the Bolsa killings.

The parole board was reviewing Beare prior to him being set free later this week on statutory release, which is mandated by law for federal offenders at the two-thirds mark of their sentence.

In earlier reviews of Beare’s file, the parole board noted he had taken steps to distance himself from any gang associations while in prison, including having several tattoos removed. In 2013, parole records stated Beare had been beaten and faced threats for renouncing his gang ties.

But the photo of Beare posing with gang members cast doubt on his sincerity and the parole board imposed a condition forcing Beare to live in a halfway house.

“You consider that putting you in a halfway house will be counterproductive to your life and will make you a target. You write that you have cut ties with ‘all friends and associates’ from your past and that you are a changed person,” the parole board wrote.

“The board is unable to see that your criminal values have shifted toward more acceptable and prosocial values. Considering this and the seriousness of your illegal activities, the board must exercise extreme caution around your release back into the community.”

The parole board document didn’t disclose Beare’s destination, but he is originally from the Maritimes and the plan he submitted to authorities proposed living with his wife or his father. The parole board stated the local “regional police” force opposes Beare’s release in their jurisdiction. Halifax has the area’s only regional police force.

jvanrassel@calgaryherald.com

twitter.com/JasonvanRassel

[Warning: content of the interrogation video may be disturbing for some viewers.]

The Calgary police detective who interviewed accused killer Nicholas (Nick) Rasberry after he fatally stabbed Craig Kelloway said Tuesday she did not know the victim had a blood-alcohol level of .30 — nearly four times the legal driving limit of .08 — on May 4, 2013.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Hersh Wolch, Trish Allen was told about the high alcohol level, which was part of the Crown disclosure but had not come out in evidence.

Wolch also questioned the officer why she did not have a search conducted of Kelloway’s home and computers, which could have revealed evidence relevant to the second-degree murder investigation, including the man’s apparent involvement on a gay men’s website. She said that decision would have to be made by the lead detective, not her.

Rasberry, 32, claimed in a 911 call immediately after the stabbing and throughout the 2.5-hour police interview that Kelloway, 31, tried to sexually assault him during a social evening at his Auburn Bay S.E. home.

Rasberry told Allen during the interview that he and Kelloway, who lived two doors down and whom he had only met earlier that day, had been getting along fine until his wife went to bed and Kelloway’s girlfriend went home.

He told the detective that Kelloway suddenly came at him aggressively, saying he was going to sexually assault him and that his wife was next. When he was able to get separation from Kelloway, Rasberry said, he reached around and grabbed a knife.

Kelloway was stabbed some three dozen times.

Rasberry vehemently denied Allen’s suggestion that he had made a sexual pass at Kelloway, who responded with a homophobic slur that prompted the fatal attack.

Det. John Orr, who was present taking notes during the police interview of Rasberry, said self-defence laws changed a few months before the Rasberry-Kelloway confrontation, in favour of the person protecting himself.

He said citizens have the same right to defend themselves from an assaultive threat as do police.

“We are taught in training to shoot until the threat is stopped,” Orr told Wolch. “Once that threat is stopped, we are bound by law to stop.”

Medical examiner Dr. Tera Jones will be on the witness stand Wednesday, then Crown prosecutors Matthew Block and Todd Buziak will close their case in the trial before Justice Robert Hall.

Wolch said he will start his case Thursday, calling a psychiatrist to the stand but not the accused.

dslade@calgaryherald.com

Twitter.com/heraldcourt

First Nations leaders say indigenous Canadians are engaged with the federal election, and that could have consequences for the federal Conservatives.

Speaking in Calgary on Tuesday, Assembly of First Nations grand chief Perry Bellegarde said he will work with whatever government is elected on Oct. 19, but the status quo on policies can’t be maintained.

Addressing a Treaty 7 education conference, Bellegarde said the key issue for the next government is helping to close the gap in quality of life between aboriginal Canadians and the rest of the country.

“We need a better relationship with government, with the prime minister and cabinet,” Bellegarde told reporters following his speech at the Coast Plaza Hotel.

“We need to work collaboratively together, co-operatively together, start making key investments in education and training and housing.”

Bellegarde said the discontent that helped spur the Idle No More movement of the last few years is still manifest among many First Nations unhappy over what he said were unilateral moves by the federal Conservative government.

The AFN wants the government to call an inquiry — and take action — on the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have refused to do so, while Liberal Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Tom Mulcair have both backed an inquiry.

Bellegarde said there are 51 ridings across Canada where aboriginal voters could make the difference in the local race.

“The message is simple — our priorities matter, our issues matter, our people matter and our vote will matter on Oct. 19 because we can mobilize,” he said.

“I see the excitement happening in our communities, a lot of people getting organized. So I’m hoping that (the) 40 per cent aboriginal/First Nations turnout is higher, goes higher, and I think I can almost say guaranteed it’s going to be higher.”

A study commissioned by Elections Canada pegged voter turnout on reserves in the 2011 federal election as 45 per cent, compared to 61 per cent overall nationally.

The number was even lower on First Nations in Alberta, coming in at 33 per cent.

But Charles Weaselhead, chief of the Blood Tribe and Treaty 7 Grand Chief, said turnout was up significantly for the provincial vote that saw the NDP elected this spring, and there was significant interest in the advance polling held from last Friday to Monday.

Only one riding — Edmonton-Griesbach — of the 51 identified by AFN is in Alberta. But Weaselhead said the sentiment among many Treaty 7 voters is clear.

“I think, at this point in time, our people are looking for change,” he told reporters.

Weaselhead said a major issue in the election is First Nations education, which is a federal responsibility. The province estimates funding for education on First Nations is, per child, around 80 per cent of the level off-reserve.

The First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act proposed by the federal Conservatives stalled in the face of aboriginal opposition and Weaselhead said it is time to return to the table.

In the party’s election platform, the Conservatives say they have  “taken significant action to promote the economic and social well-being of Canada’s First Nations,” including increasing aboriginal education funding by 25 per cent, construction of 41 new schools and boosting health funding.

The platform commits a re-elected Conservative government to work with willing provinces and First Nations to improve educational outcomes, as well as other measures “to help our aboriginal communities thrive and flourish.”

Alberta Education Minister David Eggen, who also addressed the education conference Tuesday, told reporters that regardless who wins next Monday, the federal government must acknowledge the discrepancy in funding.

“The disparity here in the province of Alberta is very marked and we’re open to developing partnerships with a new federal government that would seek to achieve equality and social justice for First Nations students,” said the NDP minister.

Eggen began his remarks to the Treaty 7 conference by saying he expects to see a change of government in the federal election.

“We’re looking for a time for change not just in Alberta, but across the country. I hope the people are taking that to heart,” he said.

“It’s good to change the government every so often, just like changing the sheets on your bed. More than that, I think, it’s a chance to look for something more hopeful.”

jwood@calgaryherald.com

Police have linked drugs to the death of a man whose body was discovered behind a downtown grocery store Sunday night.

Homicide detectives are investigating what is being called a suspicious death.

The victim’s identity and cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner’s office pending an autopsy scheduled for Wednesday.

Investigators believe the victim met with someone else in an alley behind the Safeway on 12th Avenue S.W. before a fight broke out. The victim was robbed of his bag and his assailant fled on foot.

Police believe they are looking for a male suspect, but Staff Sgt. Colin Chisholm said it’s too early to release a more detailed description.

“We’re looking for anyone else who may have been in the area to come forward,” said Chisholm. “We believe there were people who actually witnessed the confrontation that occurred.”

The man’s body was discovered in the alley after police were called around 11:15 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said there is nothing to indicate the attack was random, but they believe drugs may have played a role.

Investigators say anyone with information about the case should contact them or Crime Stoppers.

As city transit outlined its latest strategy for Green Line LRT alignment, councillors warned many hurdles still remain, from a lack of parking to incomplete funding for the $5-billion project.

After more than a year of consultation with surrounding communities, transit officials presented the new alignment for the Green Line’s southern leg, winding southeast of downtown through Inglewood, Ogden and the Quarry Park business centre. Ultimately the south line will continue all the way to Seton.

But councillors questioned the lack of parking at some of the new south stations, worried that commuters who don’t live within walking distance might avoid LRT use altogether.

Coun. Peter Demong, who represents the residents of Ward 14’s deep south, said “our whole purpose here is to get cars off the road…parking is definitely something we should be looking at.”

“We need more park and rides along this route,” added Coun. Sean Chu.

“What about all the people that need their cars at the end of their day, to pick up kids or whatever?”

Coun. Shane Keating, who has pushed Green Line for years and spearheaded the push to get up to $52 million in annual city funding for the project, also wants more parking.

“We need much more parking, and I will have to raise this when it comes to council,” said Keating.

“We’re looking at Southhill, Quarry Park, Ogden and Lynwood, four very big stations, and all near Glenmore Trail which sees up to 100,000 vehicles a day.

“Park and ride is crucial to many of these stations…this will have to be raised at council.”

Coun. Shane Keating speaks to reporters.

Keating says the city should also look at larger parkades at more LRT stations selling transit and parking passes in one unit, allowing commuters to park closer to the core, or closer to wherever they may need to go at the end of the work day for kids’ schools or recreation.

More paid parking may also help raise revenue for a number of transportation funding challenges the city will be faced with in the future, Keating added.

Overall, the Green Line LRT, which could start construction as early as 2017, will cost as much as $5 billion. One third of that funding has already been committed by the city, which voted two years ago to provide up to $52 million annually over the next 30 years for Green Line construction, a total of $1.53 billion in funding during the entire build-out.

But Keating admits many questions linger around the remaining two-thirds of funding from other levels of government.

Prior to the federal election, which ends Monday, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives pledged their own $1.53 billion toward the Green Line. During the campaign, all parties promised to fund the project, but each differ in timeline and funding model.

A map of the planned Green Line LRT.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said this summer, “that’s actually a big deal because the difference between 20 and 30 years is actually hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Uncertainties remain around who will form the next federal government after next week, with all three major parties neck-and-neck heading into Monday’s vote.

Meanwhile, Rachel Notley’s new NDP provincial government has not made a firm funding commitment, and probably won’t until budget books are released later this fall.

And as transit staff still determine the line’s final alignment, they will come back in December with a land acquisition strategy to purchase as much as $100 million in real estate along the route.

By 2043, the new line could serve as many as 456,000 Calgarians living along the corridor, with a hope of greatly reducing traffic congestion.

The project would span seven different municipal wards, adding 40 kilometres of track to the city’s existing 59-kilometre LRT system.

eferguson@calgaryherald.com

BANFF — A national day of action in the Fight for Your Parks campaign featured a rally of a couple dozen supporters in Banff on Wednesday.

The campaign, which was launched in Banff about a month ago, is designed to get Canadians to stand up against commercialization in Canada’s national parks — particularly in Banff and Jasper.

“Today marks a day of action where people across Canada can stand up and say enough is enough,” said Anne-Marie Syslak, executive director for the southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

It came after a report from CPAWS suggested national parks are under siege with the approvals of developments such as Maligne Lake in Jasper and the future expansion of the Lake Louise ski area in Banff.

Tania Peters, a spokeswoman for Parks Canada, said in an emailed statement that they are committed to protecting the ecological integrity of all national parks.

“Strict development limits are in place to ensure the protection of ecological integrity in the mountain parks,” wrote Peters, who noted there are several acts and guidelines outlining development limits for ski areas, park communities, outlying commercial accommodation and other facilities within the parks.

A group of national parks supporters rallied at the Parks Canada Administration Office in Banff.

Wednesday’s day of action took place on social media, in national parks and in cities such as Ottawa.

Syslak, who attended the Banff rally, said they hope Canadians will stand up for their national parks.

“We hope that there will be enforcement of policies and a reminder to government and Parks Canada about what these places are about and how they should be managed to protect the natural values as the first priority,” she said.

The rally was held at Cascade Gardens, in front of the Parks Canada Administration Building on Cave Avenue in the Banff townsite.

Half a dozen of those people who attended the rally also walked through the empty halls of the building, waving placards and chanting, “Protect our Parks.”

No one from Parks Canada came out of their offices to address the group.

Syslak noted they are also circulating a petition, which can be signed online, to present to the next federal government.

“We certainly want to do a push right now to tell whoever is the new Prime Minister that we don’t want this in our national parks and that Canadians are going to stand up for these protected areas,” she said.

cderworiz@calgaryherald.com

Twitter.com/cderworiz

At least one health care worker has been fired and dozens more are facing disciplinary action after allegedly improperly accessing a patient’s information, a claim that the nurse’s union is disputing.

Forty-eight employees of Alberta Health Services are under investigation by the health authority and the privacy commissioner after a routine audit revealed suspicious activity in the AHS electronic systems, according to a statement from CEO and president Vickie Kaminski.

“Recently, 48 employees at South Health Campus and across the Calgary Zone were found to have inappropriately accessed a patient’s information,” Kaminski said.

The union representing nurses in Alberta “vigorously disputes” the claims and is calling on Kaminski to resign, alleging the release of information about the privacy breach is itself a breach of confidence.

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner received an initial report about the breach from AHS on Sept. 18 and launched an investigation. The office expects a full report soon from the health authority soon, spokesperson Scott Sibbald said.

“We handle each individual breach on a case-by-case basis, and considering the magnitude of this particular breach, we have to perform our due diligence before speaking specifically on these incidents and whether or not there will actually be an offence investigation that will follow,” Sibbald said.

Sibbald said the office is “frustrated” with the number of breaches of health information that have occurred this year. So far in 2015, there has been one conviction for improper access of health care information, two additional charges of improper access and numerous other breaches that have “the potential to become offence investigations,” he added.

“With access to health information comes great responsibilities for health professionals and administrators,” Sibbald said. “The health information of Albertans cannot be treated like a social media site where you can access it and begin to creep on other people’s information, no matter how curious one might be.”

All 48 people allegedly involved in the breach are facing disciplinary action, Kaminski said in the statement. Some employees have been suspended without pay and one person has been fired.

“This situation underscores the very real consequences of patient privacy breaches,” she said.

However, a release from the United Nurses of Alberta issued Wednesday afternoon states the union is “confident that upon application of due process the actions against our members will be shown not to be justified under the circumstances and the law.”

“UNA strongly disapproves of Ms. Kaminski’s publication of a statement about a serious and confidential disciplinary matter that remains in dispute,” said the release from the union.

“UNA believes this a breach of confidence illegal under Alberta privacy legislation and will be seeking appropriate redress for its members who have been affected by this publication of confidential personnel matters, which any CEO should understand is inappropriate,” said the statement.

“The honourable thing for Ms. Kaminski to do in these circumstances is to resign.”

AHS declined to comment on the allegations from UNA.

estark@calgaryherald.com

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There’s something new in Premier Rachel Notley’s Advisory Council on the Economy — union and non-profit members fill in the blanks between the usual business people and academics.

Apart from that, there’s nothing new at all.

Alberta has tried this kind of thing — economic diversification, spinoffs, etc. — since the mid-1980s, when then premier Peter Lougheed wrote a white paper he handed to his successor, Don Getty, on the way out the door.

Later premiers, like Ralph Klein and Ed Stelmach, relied on advisory panels and even full government departments, to tell them how to save Alberta from its reliance on oil.

They have never succeeded.

These groups meet the premier, issue a report, and then slowly fade into the background clutter of agencies, boards, councils and commissions.

A familiar dynamic always defeats the good intentions; when times are tough, diversification is impractical. When there’s a boom, it isn’t needed. The initiatives sputter and die, time after time.

It’s perhaps ironic that Stelmach’s group — the Premier’s Council for Economic Strategy — released its report on May 5, 2011, four years to the day before Notley’s NDP beat the Progressive Conservatives.

It was also three months after Stelmach announced he was quitting. The council’s boat anchor of a document, commonly called the Emerson report after council chair David Emerson, was quickly forgotten in the political tumult.

Further back, Klein had a powerfully enabled Economic Development department that achieved some things. But the most prominent spinoff was Klein’s minister, Ken Kowalski, and the decade-long feud that erupted after Klein fired him.

Notley’s new body replaces the Alberta Economic Development Authority, created by ex-premier Alison Redford in 2013.

She appointed a board of 12 business leaders who were asked to “focus on the priorities of diversifying Alberta’s economy and expanding our markets.”

That body disappeared Wednesday, along with all its website links. Only one panellist — Marc de La Bruyere of Maclab enterprises — makes the jump to Notley’s new body.

It could be argued that only one premier — Lougheed — was successful at diversification, because he kick-started the oilsands. That sure was different from anything before it.

But later efforts favoured by Lougheed, including direct investment in companies like Magcan and NovAtel, were mostly a flop. They are cautionary tales about the risks of government loans and investment.

In 1988, the province guaranteed a $110-million loan to the Magnesium Co. of Canada to build a smelter in High River. Facing technical issues, the company eventually abandoned the plant. Total loss to the taxpayers: $164 million.

NovAtel made cellular phones in the early days when they looked like bricks. By 1992, the government had lost $614 million in this spectacular and complex failure, which began as a joint venture between Nova Corp. and Alberta Government Telephones, precursor to Telus.

There were other costly investments: Millar Western Pulp ($272 million); the Gainers packing plant in Edmonton ($209 million); Chembiomed ($44 million); and Swan Hills waste treatment plant ($255.7 million, with a $176.2-million cleanup cost pending).

Together, these efforts were the most aggressive diversification drive ever undertaken in Alberta. They cost nearly $2 billion in losses while producing few enduring jobs, and little in the way of thriving new industry.

The bitter memories explain why later PC governments paid lip service to diversification, but did very little.

Today there is a project with a $300-million loan — the $8-billion Sturgeon Refinery. Ex-finance minister Ted Morton has called it a ‘boondoggle,” claiming it could cost the government $26 billion over its life.

That’s a matter of sharp dispute. But the NDP, which is all for increased upgrading, has so far expressed only limited support, for Phase 1 of the project. Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd is careful to remind us that it is a PC project, after all.

There’s no doubting the NDP’s enthusiasm for diversification. Notley will surely think she can do much better than the Tories. Her wide-ranging, representative panel may be the best that’s ever confronted this problem.

But we can only hope the premier will be careful — very, very careful.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald

dbraid@calgaryherald.com

A central Alberta family reeling after three children died in a farming accident say they are overwhelmed by all the support they’ve received from loved ones, friends and first responders.

“Our kids died living life on the farm,” the Bott family said in a statement released Wednesday by RCMP. “We do not regret raising and involving our kids, Catie, aged 13, Dara, aged 11 and Jana aged 11, on our farm. It was our life.”

Roger and Bonita Bott, parents of the three sisters who were smothered by seed while playing on a transport truck, own the farm near Withrow where they grow canola, barley and sunflowers. Their extended family has been farming in the area for more than 100 years, which means their loss has touched many across Clearwater County and beyond.

The parents are left with one child, a boy.

“A tragedy of this extent, to lose three members of a family, it’s so hard to comprehend,” said Patrick Alexander, reeve of Clearwater County, who knows the Botts, calling them an upstanding family in the community. “You just feel so bad for the family, and the parents, and the one child that’s left.”

About 25 emergency responders rushed to the farm near Withrow after 6 p.m. Tuesday following reports three youths had been trapped in grain.

According to RCMP, three children were playing on a truck loaded with canola when they were buried by the seed. The girls were removed from the truck before emergency crews tried to revive them.

“We performed CPR for almost two hours until STARS was on scene and made their assessment,” said Ivan Dijkstra, deputy fire chief at Clearwater County.

Two of the girls, aged 11 and 13, died at the scene. A third sister, who was 11, was taken to Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton by STARS Air Ambulance in critical condition, RCMP said.

Authorities confirmed Wednesday the 11-year-old had died.

A Facebook photo of the Bott family of Withrow. The family’s three girls have been killed in a farming accident.

“All responders, including STARS, they worked hard trying to save these girls,” Dijkstra said. “Despite our best efforts, unfortunately, they passed away.”

Pastor Brian Allan of the Withrow Gospel Mission said people in the tiny community quickly went to the farm to help the parents and their son.

“They are obviously devastated,” Allan said Wednesday. “There is just a deep sense of loss and sadness.”

Police are investigating what led to the incident. EMS officials said ambulance personnel determined the girls had been inside the truck while it was being filled from a hopper, but it was unclear how they became submerged underneath the seed.

Allan said the parents and children have been strong members of the church and have lived in the area for years.

“We are going to be spending time with them. I know that there are guys down there working around the farm right now, cleaning things up and just trying to get things back to some sense of normal,” he said.

“We feel the impact of this loss in a substantial way.”

The Rocky Mountain House Victims Service Unit has been called in to assist the family. Grief counsellors have also been made available to all first responders.

“Our prayers are going out to the family,” said Coun. Curt Maki, of Clearwater County, describing the community as close-knit where neighbours know each other well.

“(The family are) very nice people. They would do anything for you,” Maki said. “I just couldn’t believe it, that the kids were gone. It’s pretty hard.”

Oneil Carlier, Alberta’s minister of agriculture and forestry, offered condolences to the family, saying his “heart aches” for them.

“As a father myself, I believe no parent should have to bear the loss of a child,” Carlier said in a statement. “I join Albertans in expressing grief and sympathy for the parents of these girls as they go through unimaginable sorrow.”

Neighbours are planning to finish the harvest for the family.

With files from The Canadian Press and Valerie Fortney, Calgary Herald

Albertans came out in droves to cast their ballots in advance polls ahead of the Oct. 19 federal election, more than doubling the advance turnout in the last national campaign.

Preliminary figures released by Elections Canada Wednesday show that 358,830 Albertans voted in the four-day advance voting period that ran from last Friday to Monday.

In the 2011 election, 160,199 provincial residents voted in advance polls.

Elections Canada spokeswoman Leanne Nyirfa said it’s difficult to make comparisons to previous years in that the number of eligible voters has grown and there was an additional day for advanced polling this time around.

“We know that advance polls were very busy. I think that’s clear,” she said.

“But we can’t comment on whether voting day will be as busy or busier than last time.”

Nationally, 3.6 million Canadians cast their ballot early, compared to 2.1 million in 2011.

Among Alberta’s 34 ridings, advance turnout was the highest in Banff-Airdrie, which had 15,346 voters, and Edmonton-Wetaskiwin, which saw 15,047 ballots cast.

Calgary Rocky Ridge had the most votes cast among city ridings — 13,607 — while Calgary Skyview’s 5,240 was the lowest amount in both the city and the province.

jwood@calgaryherald.com

Related

• Voting lineups spark frustration as advance poll turnout rises

“Beautiful girls.”

When asked about Catie, Jana and Dara Bott, Pastor Brian Allan needs just two words to sum up the daughters of his friends Bonita and Roger Bott.

On Tuesday evening, Allan was sitting down to dinner when their father called with the most shocking of news.

“He told me, ‘There’s been an accident,’” says Allan on Wednesday afternoon as a steady stream of parishioners files into Withrow Gospel Mission church, their arms laden down with covered casseroles and vegetable trays.

A few minutes after the earth-shattering call, Allan was at his friend’s rural home, just in time to see paramedics working on Catie, 13, and 11-year-old twins Jana and Dara, after the three sisters were smothered by canola seed while playing in a transport truck.

Withrow Gospel Mission Pastor Brian Allan spoke about the Bott family after their three daughters were killed in a farm accident.

Less than 24 hours after the accident that would steal three young lives, Allan admits that for him, as well as his fellow citizens in this rural community, it is all too unreal.

“There is a sense of disbelief, but then there is a coming together,” he says, adding that a trust fund has already been set up for the family at the Eckville Credit Union.

Shock. Disbelief. Then, a quick and decisive demonstration of the power of community. That is what is most evident Wednesday afternoon in this rural patch of paradise about 150 kilometres northwest of Calgary, as people here grapple with the unimaginable tragedy that has struck one of their own.

In the early hours of this sad day, it is clear the community is shaken to the core. As he speaks to journalists outside the Rocky Mountain House RCMP detachment, Sgt. Mike Numan readily admits “this is all hitting us all very hard. Frontline responders are frequently called out to sad situations — but things are always harder when there are children involved.”

RCMP Sgt. Mike Numan holds back tears as he reads a family statement from the Bott family. The family’s three daughters were killed in a farm accident yesterday.

Upon reading a statement from the family on how farming was their life, the officer nearly breaks down.

“Give me a moment, please,” he tells the crowd before proceeding to read out the family’s thanks for support far and wide. Afterwards, he exhales. “Ooh, that’s a tough one, guys.”

Over at The Mountaineer, The Rocky Mountain House newspaper that’s served the area for the better part of a century, editor Laura Button is reeling.

“We just toured their farm for a story on the West Country Ag Tour,” says Button of the well-known farming family. “Roger wasn’t shy, he had over 100 people in his yard — they were a happy farming family.”

At the family home, which they call Providence Acres, all is quiet at a place where the sound of children’s voices once filled the air. In one corner of their spread, a tree house sits empty; beside the garage, several bicycles lie in a jumble of wheels and handle bars.

A girl’s bike is parked in the Bott family farm yard. The Bott family’s three daughters were killed in a farm accident yesterday.

“We are all devastated,” Danny Bott, who says his mom is a cousin of Roger Bott, tells me as he wipes his tear-filled eyes. “We’re having a heck of a time trying to wrap our heads around the fact this has actually happened.”

The young man, almost apologetically, cuts the conversation short.

“We’ve got some combines going on their land, lots of people helping. You can follow if you like.”

At a nearby plot of land, nine combines harvest the crops for Roger and Bonita Bott, whose youngest, a boy, now faces a future without his siblings. A cluster of trucks surrounds the land, with scores of people out of their vehicles. Some take videos of the scene, while others simply watch silently, wiping the tears from their eyes as they hold onto one another.

One man is setting up a drone to take aerial photos of the action.

Friends and family of the Bott family come together to help finish their harvest near their home after their three daughters were killed in a farm accident yesterday.

“I want Roger to see this,” he says before the drone takes off. “I want him to know how everyone is here to help him.”

A young woman, a relative who doesn’t want to be named, says the annual Bott family reunion in July brought more than 200 of her relatives together.

“It is always such a happy time,” she says with a sad smile, of the extended clan that has farmed in these parts for more than a century. “We cannot believe that our girls are gone.”

Still, she is in awe of those who have come out to help with the bereaved family’s fall harvest.

“Farmers are coming from all over, the Hutterites are here, too,” she says, as other relatives greet her with a hug. “This is just awesome. But it doesn’t surprise me. We’re farm people — and in times of trouble, this is what farm people do: help one another get through a terrible time.

“It’s beautiful.”

vfortney@calgaryherald.com

twitter.com/valfortney

Sunflowers on the Bott family farm near Eckville, Alta. Taken on Aug. 20 this year, during Clearwater County’s West Country Ag Tour. The Bott family hosted a tour stop in their sunflower field on Withrow Road.

Premier Rachel Notley has replaced the former Tory government’s Alberta Economic Development Authority with a 10-member expert panel tasked with diversifying the economy.

The committee, chaired by University of Alberta economics professor Joseph Doucet, will work without remuneration to advise the premier on diversification initiatives that identify, promote and develop economic activity, innovation and job creation outside the oilpatch.

Notely said the committee, which includes union bosses and captains of industry, will promote resilience in the provincial economy.

“The mandate is to ultimately ensure that I have the best information in front of me to make the best decisions I can to grow our economy, to diversify our economy and to create more jobs, because we know that’s what Albertans are looking for,” she told reporters at the legislature.

Notley said the committee will meet with her at least quarterly, beginning Nov. 4.

“I’ll be asking Mr. Doucet and the panel to talk to me about a range of issues … not only about diversification, but business growth and the growth of economic activity and our ability to attract more investment here in Alberta,” she said.

Doucet, dean of the Alberta School of Business, said no jurisdiction has been as successful at diversifying the economy as it wanted to be because “it’s very, very hard to do.”

“It’s not something that gets done overnight,” he said. “It’s not something that can be done easily, but it’s a laudable goal, and something that’s very important.”

The other members of the committee are Suncor president Steve Williams, ATCO president Nancy Southern, Alberta Federation of Labour acting president Siobhan Vipond, Health Sciences Association president Elisabeth Ballermann, Maclab Enterprises chairman Marc de La Bruyere, economic consultant Hugh Mackenzie, GE Canada president Elyse Allan, BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka and Calgary YWCA CEO Sue Tomney.

Wildrose critic Grant Hunter said he wasn’t sure why the NDP scrapped the Alberta Economic Development Authority (AEDA), which has a legislated mandate to meet with the premier.

“I think AEDA worked fairly well in the past,” he said. “If they wanted to change some board members, that could have been done.”

He expressed concern that in its exuberance to support diversification of the economy, the government may be once again drawn into funding businesses.

“In the past, some of the biggest boondoggles we’ve seen have been under the guise of economic diversification,” he said.

Progressive Conservative critic Wayne Drysdale said he was concerned about the lack of forestry and agriculture representatives on the committee.

“They mostly look like academics from downtown,” he said. “I think when we’re going to be diversifying, it won’t be downtown in the two big cities — it will be out in the ag industry or forest industry.”

He said it was another example of the NDP being an “urban-centric government.”

Liberal Leader David Swann was disappointed the committee won’t have input into the budget.

“This government has been in power for almost five months and they are just now seeking advice on how to stimulate and diversify our economy?” Swann complained in a statement.

Suncor’s Williams said he looks forward to working with the panel to support the government in enabling growth and diversification of the economy.

“Alberta’s economic progress depends on leveraging our strengths and fostering innovation to ensure Alberta’s economy remains competitive,” he said in a statement.

The Health Sciences Association’s Ballermann, who represents 24,000 health care workers, said the work of the committee is important for all Albertans.

“It is a refreshing change to see this new NDP government include the voice of workers as it charts a path for the future.” she said in a statement.

The AFL noted there is a wide range of industries represented on the panel, a balance of men and women, and a diversity of backgrounds.

“The committee’s work on economic diversification will be essential to building a prosperous province that will be better able to weather the boom-and-bust cycle of the energy sector,” the labour organization said in a statement.

dhenton@calgaryherald.com

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