Alberta Deaf News
May 2015
Message from the Editor:
It’s elections season again! Always an interesting time, but especially now
where all reports indicate that the incumbent provincial government is facing
a very serious challenge to their decades-long regime in our province. It will
be interesting to see what the election results are. Remember, election day is
Tuesday May 5 but the advance polls are already open. I have cast my vote
for our next premier already—have you or are you planning to?
I’m making the bold prediction that we have seen the last of snowfalls for this
past winter! It should be smooth sailing from here on out until the fall when
the temperature starts to dip again. As usual for this time of year, the warming of the weather brings about a flurry of activity in the Deaf community,
which directly leads to a fat, thick ADN News. Tons of content in those pages
for you!
Enjoy the weather, get out and vote, and have fun at the many upcoming
events!
Damian Karl
ADN Editor
Greetings to all Deaf Albertans and Deaf community members!
Relating to the very intense public pressure and campaign drive for fundraising and votes for the Provincial government parties we have been faced and determined to understand more about the main mandates and commitments of
those candidates all over our beloved province of Alberta till the huge Election Day
on Tuesday, May 5th. In my previous message about top 3 parties of P.C., Wildrose and Liberals, I have noticed the 4th party; NDP – New Democratic Party’s
impressive campaign led by Rachel Notley lately like her wonderful father-man/
MLA as leader of the opposition party for 10+ years. What is more, I observed the
TV debate among those 4 candidates for premier of Alberta on Thursday, April
16th and Rachel outperformed all three men with her solid focus on key factual
points and discussions of what she would do as our Premier-to-be efficiently. I
have kept up with daily updates of all the candidates’ plans for if they become
Premier. Right now, I like one key point from the NDP who want to reestablish the
S T E P – Summer Temporary Employment Program which allows organizations to
hire students for summer jobs like AAD’s successful project/ experience to have
Damian Karl as Administrative Assistant – Editor of ADN in Summer 2012. Now, he
is still our wonderful contracted ADN for the past 2.5 years.
Now, relating to ADN project last month, I mentioned 8 ADN Community Partners but actually, it should be NINE (9) of them. I was making the very unfortunate human oversight of missing the “well-deserved” group; ASLIA – Association
of Sign Language Interpreters of Alberta. I already emailed my very sincere message of apology to ASLIA President Deb Flaig and her board. ASLIA is categorized
as a Basic ADN community partner. Welcome ASLIA to our fabulous team of 9 ADN
Community Partners and enjoy our ADN monthly issues from now till the end of
2015.
Relating to the CAV affairs, I just received terrific news from the CAV Permanent Board and am now sharing the news with you all on a later page about the
full board name list and the hiring of a new CAV Executive Director & her background/work experience. Handwaves for CAV Board for the huge historic step forward and the progress so far.
For AAD’s upcoming Board meeting at EADCC on Saturday, May 30th at 1 – 3 pm, there
will be open forum held at 3:30 pm – 5 pm for anybody interested to attend for group
discussions – ideas helping AAD board and its AAD Team Reps making right decisions on
any motions by provincial affiliates across Canada prior to CAD-ASC AGM in Halifax, NS
on July 3rd – 4th and possible topics about Summer Camp 2015 and AAD’s presentation
plan & booth plan during the DAE 2015 in Calgary – Sept 24th – 26th.
For a possible federal election, it has been seriously pressurized and addressed for a realistic
plan/date-to-be finalized this spring or before summer break. In fact, we all definitely
missed the incredible man, the late Jack Layton, our former federal leader of the official
Opposition. Interestingly, there is one specific point that the federal budget 2015 plan
has pledged to provide special funding of $210 million toward a 4-year plan starting in
this fiscal year to support activities and events to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary
in 2017. It would absolutely be terrific news for AAD’s current/active executive committee of AAD Mega Events 2017 to prepare - submit its grant application requests for
financial assistance toward our host. Handwaves/Cheers for EAD & Deaf community in
Edmonton/Alberta & AAD!
Before concluding this to you all, AAD is eagerly looking forward to working with
EAD’s new Acting President Kyle Badree for the remaining term period. Also, it is similarly applicable to CAD of having new Acting President in Calgary till next board election
due to Robyn Mackie’s leaving for her new employment in Ottawa in late May. We all
would like to thank you, Robyn very much for being our CAD President & AAD board director and sincerely wish you Good Luck with your new life and in Ottawa!
Many Thanks! Enjoy your busy month of May and Happy Mother’s Day & Victoria
Week-end!
Keep in touch! For more info, pls feel free to contact me in person anytime or
email: [email protected].
AAD’ly
Donald Mc Carthy, AAD President
Text to 911 Announcement
I am pleased to announce that the Edmonton Police Service (who provides 911 services
for Edmonton) will be launching the new Text-with-911 service for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Speech Impaired (DHHSI) communities on April 30, 2015.
While members of the DHHSI communities in Canada have had the ability to register
their mobile phones for Text-with-911 since January 2014, the service was previously not
available in Edmonton.
As we prepare to launch the service, we want to reach out to your organization’s members to encourage them to register their mobile phones. Information on Text-with-911, including how to register and use the service, is available at www.textwith911.ca. Additionally, EPS Inspector Erik Johnson and I are available to attend your local meetings to answer
any questions about the new Text-with-911 service if desired.
TTY/TDD services will continue to be available for those members of the DHHSI community who use this technology. Text-with-911 is not available for non-emergency calls and
so TTY/TDD should be used for these types of calls.
It is important to note that Text-with-911 is only intended to be used by members of
the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Speech Impaired (DHHSI) communities, and will not be available for the general public. Voice calling remains the only way to communicate with 911
services for a person who is not deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired.
Please feel free to contact me or Erik if you have any questions or concerns.
Kind regards,
Lyne Eaker
PCB Revitalization Program Coordinator
Police Communications Branch
Edmonton Police Service
780-421-2692
9620 103A Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T5H 0H7
M AY 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
CWC Night
SN 1 Workshop
2
SN 1 Workshop
3
4
CAD General Meeting
EAD AGM
5
EAD SC Day
6
7
EAD SC Day
8
EAD Las Vegas Night
9
ACSD Executive Board
Meeting
10
Mother’s Day
11
12
EAD SC Day & Community Bingo
CAD SC—Aingo
13
14
15
Darts Night
16
TRIBES ASL Interpreted
Play
17
18
Victoria Day
19
EAD SC Day & Club
Meeting
20
21
EAD SC Day
ASD Yard Sale & Tours
22
EAD Community Bingo
ASD Yard Sale & Tours
23
EAD SC Victoria Party
ADSA Disc Golf & Cinco
De Mayo Party
TRIBES ASL Interpreted
Play
24
25
EAD Board Meeting
26
EAD SC Day
CAD SC—Bingo
27
28
29
Darts Night
SN 2 Workshop
30
AAD Board Meeting &
Open Forum
SN 2 Workshop
31
J UNE 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
CAD AGM & Board
Elections
EAD General Meeting
2
EAD SC Day
3
4
EAD SC Day
5
6
ACSD Board of Directors Meeting
EAD Beerfest
7
8
ACSD Casino
9
EAD SC Day & Community Bingo
ACSD Casino
CAD SC—Cingo
10
11
12
Darts Night
13
CAD Paintball Bash
14
15
16
EAD SC Day & Club
Meeting
17
18
EAD SC Day
19
20
CWC Final Tourney &
BBQ Dinner Party
21
Father’s Day
22
23
EAD SC Day
24
25
26
EAD Community Bingo
27
28
29
30
EAD SC Day
J ULY 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
Canada Day
2
3
4
5
EAD World Cup Night
6
ASL Immersion Begins
7
EAD SC Day
CAD SC Aingo
8
9
EAD SC Day
10
ASL Immersion Ends
11
12
13
14
EAD SC Day & Community Bingo
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
EAD SC Day & Club
Meeting
CAD SC Bingo
22
23
EAD SC Day
24
EAD Community Bingo
25
EAD SC/EDDC Fundraising Party
26
27
28
EAD SC Day
29
30
31
A UGUST 2015
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
Heritage Day
4
CAD SC Cingo
EAD SC
5
6
7
8
9
10
EAD Volunteering—
FRBA Bingo
11
12
13
14
15
16
Western Canada Deaf
55+ Games Begin
17
18
CAD SC—Aingo
19
20
21
22
55+ Games End
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31