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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
N.W.T. education minister commits to recommendations after school lead investigation
The N.W.T.'s Education Minister says her department is committed to implementing the recommendations an independent investigator made after looking into how the territory responded to the discovery of lead in drinking water at two Yellowknife schools. Cayley Thomas, an alternative dispute resolution lawyer with the firm Thomas ADR, made a number of recommendations after Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland tasked her with investigating what happened. Her findings were released publicly on Monday, along with a pair of water quality assessment reports by the firm Stantec Consulting Ltd. during a territorial news conference. One of Thomas's recommendations is that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) oversee the development of a plan to test for lead in drinking water at all N.W.T. schools on a yearly basis, complete with testing protocols, plans for what to do if lead levels were too high, and a communication plan. "We are committed to, in principle, applying the recommendations," Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland said Tuesday morning on CBC's The Trailbreaker. Thomas's other recommendations are that: The office of the chief public health officer prepare an education presentation for the education and infrastructure departments and Yellowknife school boards. Any issues with human health implications at schools, daycares or educational facilities be flagged to management immediately. That roles, responsibilities and lines of communication be clarified between the education department and the Yellowknife school boards. That any outstanding tests be done this fall. That the chief public health officer and education department officials should meet face to face to talk about best practices for future water testing. Thomas found that the root cause of delays in communicating and taking action was that staff in both the education and infrastructure departments didn't understand the health implications of lead in drinking water. Cleveland did not directly answer a question about whether there would be consequences for education staff who were involved. "This has been very public," Cleveland said, adding that the intent of the project had been positive from the outset. "There was nothing malicious about this. Everybody who worked on this was, in earnest, feeling like they were coming at this from a place of proactivity, in a place of wanting to do good. So this has been a very big challenge for the public servants that have been involved."
CBC
3 days ago
- Health
- CBC
N.W.T. education minister commits to recommendations after school lead investigation
Social Sharing The N.W.T.'s Education Minister says her department is committed to implementing the recommendations an independent investigator made after looking into how the territory responded to the discovery of lead in drinking water at two Yellowknife schools. Cayley Thomas, an alternative dispute resolution lawyer with the firm Thomas ADR, made a number of recommendations after Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland tasked her with investigating what happened. Her findings were released publicly on Monday, along with a pair of water quality assessment reports by the firm Stantec Consulting Ltd. during a territorial news conference. One of Thomas's recommendations is that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) oversee the development of a plan to test for lead in drinking water at all N.W.T. schools on a yearly basis, complete with testing protocols, plans for what to do if lead levels were too high, and a communication plan. "We are committed to, in principle, applying the recommendations," Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland said Tuesday morning on CBC's The Trailbreaker. Thomas's other recommendations are that: The office of the chief public health officer prepare an education presentation for the education and infrastructure departments and Yellowknife school boards. Any issues with human health implications at schools, daycares or educational facilities be flagged to management immediately. That roles, responsibilities and lines of communication be clarified between the education department and the Yellowknife school boards. That any outstanding tests be done this fall. That the chief public health officer and education department officials should meet face to face to talk about best practices for future water testing. Thomas found that the root cause of delays in communicating and taking action was that staff in both the education and infrastructure departments didn't understand the health implications of lead in drinking water. Cleveland did not directly answer a question about whether there would be consequences for education staff who were involved. "This has been very public," Cleveland said, adding that the intent of the project had been positive from the outset. "There was nothing malicious about this. Everybody who worked on this was, in earnest, feeling like they were coming at this from a place of proactivity, in a place of wanting to do good. So this has been a very big challenge for the public servants that have been involved."
CBC
4 days ago
- Health
- CBC
N.W.T. gov't slow to act on lead situation, independent investigation finds
The N.W.T. government was slow to act when it detected lead in school drinking water because two of its departments failed to understand the health implications of the situation, an independent investigation has found. "It is fair to say that everyone involved in the [testing] initiative held an honest belief that the situation was 'under control' — until it became apparent that it wasn't," reads the report, released publicly Monday afternoon during a territorial news conference. A pair of water quality assessment reports by the firm Stantec Consulting Ltd. were also released. Students, staff and parents at École William McDonald Middle School and Range Lake North School in Yellowknife found out on May 27 that there had been elevated levels of lead found in the drinking water at a single water fountain in each school. About a month later, the public school board in Yellowknife said further testing confirmed high levels of lead at both schools, though at William McDonald the tests yielded more results that were high, and with higher lead concentrations. The N.W.T. government said further investigation would be needed to understand why the levels at William McDonald were high, while precautionary flushing could be used to deal with the situation at Range Lake. During a media briefing Monday afternoon, Jamie Fulford, the deputy minister for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, said the organizations involved in the testing and response have been focused on strengthening their communication, collaboration and planning. "The past few weeks have been challenging," he said. "We are committed to getting this right, for our students, our educators and the communities we serve." In a statement Monday afternoon, Education Minister Caitlin Cleveland said the investigation confirmed "warning signs were missed, key test results weren't escalated quickly enough and communication between departments and with the public was inconsistent." "These are serious systemic failures that affected both safety and trust. That is not acceptable. I take full responsibility for ensuring we fix it," she wrote. She said changes are underway for how the territory does things. That includes developing a territory-wide testing program for water in schools, with public reporting. Timeline of events, according to report Early 2024 – ECE becomes aware of lead detected in drinking water at Yukon schools. Oct. 2024 – ECE receives approval for single sample testing at N.W.T. schools. Early-Dec. 2024 – INF distributes water sample kits. Mid-Dec. 2024 – OCPHO asks to be kept in loop on testing plan. Jan. 16, 2025 – INF gets results of first tests that show high lead in 3 Yellowknife schools. Jan. 22, 2025 – INF shares those results with ECE. Feb. 24, 2025 – INF tells Yellowknife school boards some tests were high and re-testing is needed. March 20, 2025 – Results of re-tests at 3 schools show high levels at 2 of them: William McDonald and Range Lake. April 3, 2025 – OCPHO asks for update. April 7, 2025 – ECE provides spreadsheet to OCPHO and says it's waiting for more results. April 29, 2025 – ECE provides spreadsheet to OCPHO with 46 results, including 3 re-test results. April 30, 2025 – OCPHO advises ECE to do further investigation as soon as possible. May 8, 2025 – OCPHO follows up with ECE, says matter should be top priority. May 12, 2025 – Unnamed person/persons within ECE debriefed on issue. May 21, 2025 – Meeting between ECE, INF, YK1, OCPHO; decision made to re-test two schools using different lab. May 21 and 22, 2025 – "Communication crisis" between OCPHO and ECE, which is resolved at an undisclosed point in time. May 26, 2025 – Decision made to "err on the side of safety" and prioritize communication. Water sources at both schools are blocked off and bottled water arranged. May 27, 2025 – Communication sent out to students, staff and and parents. June 25, 2025 – Further testing shows numerous high results at William McDonald, few high results at Range Lake. Cayley Thomas, an alternative dispute resolution lawyer with firm Thomas ADR, said concerns about a delay in when those test results were received and then communicated, as well as communication between the education department and the chief public health officer's office, ultimately led to her investigation. Her report provides a timeline for what happened leading up to May 27, identifies procedural gaps and makes recommendations. She said she was specifically asked not to blame any person for what happened. Timeline of events The timeline of events ultimately begins when lead was detected in the drinking water at schools in the Yukon. After that, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) received approval to do a single sample test at N.W.T. schools based on a 2018 testing program that hadn't gone ahead. One of Thomas's findings was that there was a lack of a written project plan for this testing. The Department of Infrastructure (INF) distributed water sample kits in early December 2024. In mid-December, the Office of the Chief Public Officer (OCPHO) asked about ECE's testing plan and to be kept in the loop — specifically if any test results were higher than Canada's maximum allowable concentration of .005mg/L of lead in drinking water. INF received test results in mid-January that showed high levels of lead in three Yellowknife public schools — William McDonald, Range Lake, and NJ Macpherson annex. The department shared the results with ECE, and decided to wait until they had all test results before doing more tests in those three schools. Results of re-tests returned on March 20 showed that drinking water at William McDonald and Range Lake were still higher than the maximum limit. "Neither the results received in January, nor the results received on March 20, 2025, were reported to [the] OCPHO as they had requested," Thomas found. They also were not flagged to management within ECE or INF. OCPHO staff got the test results in April — including the three re-tests — and at the end of the month told ECE they recommended further investigation as soon as possible at William McDonald and Range Lake. They also shared an eight-page document containing Health Canada's recommended water sampling procedure. On May 12, an unnamed person or persons within ECE received a briefing on the issue, which led to a meeting between all parties — ECE, INF, the OCPHO and Yellowknife District Education Authority No. 1 — on May 21. During that meeting, a decision was made to urgently re-test both schools using a different lab. Between May 21 and 22, Thomas found there had been a communication crisis between ECE and the OCPHO. ECE "felt 'overloaded' by information provided by the OCPHO and a lack of what they felt was clear direction regarding next steps." Meanwhile, "the OCPHO felt they had provided plain language, audience-specific, information … and believed ECE was either ignoring the information, or choosing not to follow their advice." After a meeting between ECE and YK1 on May 26, a decision was made to prioritize communication. By the end of that day, all sources of drinking water were blocked off at both schools, bottled water was arranged and, the following morning, letters notifying students, parents and staff at both schools were sent out. The recommendations Thomas found that a lack of a written plan for testing was the major procedural issue in the situation. Her first recommendation was that ECE develop a co-ordinated approach for testing drinking water in all N.W.T. schools every year. She also found there were a number of delays in communicating and taking steps to address the high lead results at the public schools: it took more than a month for YK1 to find out that more testing was required at three schools, and more than three months for the issues to be flagged to ECE management and the OCPHO. The root cause of that, said Thomas, was "failure, at multiple levels, to adequately understand the health implications of lead in school drinking water." ECE and INF did not have "the technical knowledge or experience to interpret, recognize the implications, or act when the results were received." She recommended the OCPHO make an education presentation for both departments and the Yellowknife school boards about the health implications of lead in drinking water. Her other recommendations were that any issues with human health implications at schools, day cares or educational facilities be flagged to management immediately; that roles, responsibilities and lines of communication be clarified between ECE and the Yellowknife school boards; that any outstanding tests be done in the fall of 2025; and that the OCPHO and ECE should meet face to face to talk about best practices for future water testing.
CTV News
7 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Stephen Avenue construction work delayed; new timeline to be developed
Relief for businesses along Calgary's Stephen Avenue as the city has decided to postpone planned construction work along the popular downtown corridor. This week provided huge relief for businesses along Calgary's Stephen Avenue. The city is now postponing a massive construction undertaking along the popular downtown corridor. CTV News first reported on the work plan last week, after business owners complained it would hurt their summer sales. Crews were slated to start on Monday, the day after Stampede wraps up. Businesses say tourist season has yet to peak, and given what they've seen with other revitalization projects in the city over recent years, they feared this would turn Stephen Avenue into a ghost town. Concept by Stantec Consulting. Concept by Stantec Consulting. Concept by Stantec Consulting. Concept by Stantec Consulting. If the work went ahead as planned, it would have spanned several city blocks from city hall to Mewata Armoury. Work would include replacing old infrastructure and underground utilities and revamping the look of Stephen Avenue, including a wider walkway. The first phase, from 1st Street to Centre Street S.E., would have taken 15 months. Concept by Stantec Consulting. Concept by Stantec Consulting. Concept by Stantec Consulting. Concept by Stantec Consulting. On Thursday night, a meeting between the city and businesses resulted in news of the project's postponement. 'The meeting was very positive,' said Stephen Deere, owner of Modern Steak. 'They said they would come back with an answer, and they did, which was to pause the program. 'We'll hopefully be meeting later next week for next steps.' The owner of Modern Steak says he's not only thrilled but also feels heard. Businesses say they are not against revitalization but firmly believe it needs to be rethought, from timeline to design. 'We think (the project is) actually quite essential,' Deere said. 'There were a lot of details that needed to be sorted out, but the big contentious one was, to be honest, 15 months per block is unmanageable and would close the majority of businesses on Stephen Ave. 'So, we want to look at different ways of doing construction, possibly, and how we can get those timelines down to as short as three months.' The city says it is devising some new construction options to reduce the effect on businesses. 'Calgary's economy is thriving, and our commitment to businesses has always been to minimize disruption through thoughtful planning and clear communication while balancing the need to complete critical infrastructure replacement work and alignment with other downtown investments like the Glenbow Museum and the Arts Commons/Olympic Plaza Transformation,' the city said. 'We've been working with Stephen Avenue businesses over the last several months to develop a construction plan that minimizes business impact. 'However, we have continued to hear from some business owners that they remain concerned about how construction will impact their business operations. In response, we will be delaying construction while we continue to explore options that would help further reduce business impacts during construction.' A new timeline will be shared once it's finalized.
CBC
10-07-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Many City of Edmonton buildings highly vulnerable to climate risks, report finds
Hundreds of municipal buildings in Edmonton are highly vulnerable and at risk to climate-related hazards, according to an external report that has not yet been shared with city council. The City of Edmonton hired Stantec Consulting Ltd. in 2022 to conduct a climate vulnerability and risk assessment for its building portfolio and identify which buildings were most at risk. The December 2023 report concluded that wildfire smoke, intense rainfall, heavy snowfall, storms, extreme cold and winter freeze-thaw pose the highest risks to the city's building portfolio for the 2030s. Once a manageable issue, extreme heat is now becoming a more prevalent risk. The report, which cost $400,000 and was funded in part by grant money from the provincial government, said that as the climate changes, so will risks to the city's buildings. The report said the risks dramatically shift for the portfolio in the 2050s and 2080s, with the risk of wildfires, droughts, extreme heat, extreme weather events and freeze-thaw events increasing. The document predicts that buildings or assets surrounded by forests could be susceptible to wildfires, extreme heat and high winds could lead to power outages and HVAC systems blocked by smoke could lead to poor indoor air quality. Other impacts could include flooding, roof damage, cracked foundations and higher insurance premiums. CBC News recently obtained a copy of the report through a freedom of information request. Though the most at-risk buildings, the costs of retrofits and the costs of inaction were redacted in the report provided to CBC, a post about the risk assessment on the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre's website says 39 per cent of assessed structures (or 343 of the city's 884 buildings) need immediate action because of their high risk, age and condition. Mackenzie Boilard, a 19-year-old University of Alberta student and member of the community organization Edmonton Youth for Climate (EYFC), said she worries about climate change damaging municipal buildings to the point where the public can no longer use them. "I want to be able to walk into a building and be comfortable and be able to operate and do my work," she said in an interview this week. She and Tristan Dell, 24, also a U of A student and EYFC member, read the 2023 report and said the city should be mitigating risks now to avoid more dire consequences later. "I think that it's easy for people to kind of turn their heads away from it," he said. Chris Webster, a communications adviser for the City of Edmonton, said while 39 per cent of the buildings were initially assessed as being exposed to medium- to high-climate risk and vulnerabilities over the coming decades, many of the buildings have not been visited to definitively confirm work required. WATCH | These Edmonton neighbourhoods are vulnerable to climate change: Which Edmonton neighbourhoods are more vulnerable to climate change? 12 months ago Duration 3:18 Where you live could impact how your health is impacted by our changing climate. Using data from a variety of sources, an Edmonton research group has mapped the city to determine which neighbourhoods, and the residents in them, are most vulnerable. He said climate vulnerability risk assessments would have to be done on specific sites before major renovations take place. Webster said Stantec's report can help prioritize buildings for the city's retrofit program but additional assessments will better confirm potential climate risks, allowing for the most appropriate action. He also said Stantec has produced a more recent version of the report, which is under review. Webster said the city is still reviewing the findings from the report, no actions have been taken and the report has not yet been shared with city council. "Any potential projects or expenditures resulting from this report could be submitted as part of the 2027-2030 budget process for consideration and approval by city council," he said. The report makes more than a dozen recommendations for the City Edmonton, including creating a frozen pipe policy, training staff to respond to extreme climate events and seeking out opportunities to divest at-risk and low-value buildings. The document also lists dozens of possible adaptation measures, such as insulation upgrades, green roof design, passive solar cooling and ventilation systems, increasing stormwater drainage capacity and providing back-up power. The report said not adapting the city's buildings to prepare for the effects of climate change would lead to assets needing to be replaced or rehabilitated earlier, increased operation, capital and maintenance costs, and reduced service levels for residents. Jason Thistlethwaite, an associate professor in the faculty of environment at the University of Waterloo who researches climate risk management, said municipalities have the most exposure to climate change but the least amount of money to mitigate it. He said there is a consensus now among experts that investing in retrofits now is worth doing. "The benefits of investing in preparedness, mitigation, and defending your community from climate risk far outweigh the cost," he said. The report said the costs to retrofit the buildings fully by 2040 or even later is "beyond available revenue-based funding." "I see the position they're in, but we need to start prioritizing this and not doing business as usual," said Haley Pukanski, an organizer with the Climate Justice Edmonton collective. She criticized the city's recent decision to extend the Community Revitalization Levy downtown instead of spending the millions of dollars on climate action. Ramla Qureshi, an assistant professor of civil engineering at McMaster University who researches structural resilience against extreme hazards, said based on her work, even municipalities that have seen buildings damaged by wildfires continue to build in the same places and don't seem to be offloading at-risk structures. "Even when cities know the risk and they understand, leaders just don't have the capacity to make all these changes," she said. Webster said the majority of new municipal buildings since 2008 in Edmonton have been built to meet the LEED Silver green building standards and that a climate strategy and action plan guides the city's efforts to conduct impact assessments on buildings, maintenance programs, retrofits and new infrastructure developments.
