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Letter: Giving thanks

Central Alberta Refugee Effort presented the performance of Journeys of Hope – 5 Refugee Stories.

Giving thanks

Central Alberta Refugee Effort presented the performance of Journeys of Hope – 5 Refugee Stories, at the Welikoklad Centre on Oct.1 as a host celebration site for Alberta Culture Days. As the producer of the show, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all the people who became part of this incredible project over the last five months. In all there were over 80 people involved, including the five former refugees – Monybany Dau, Zeljka Udovicic, Ethel Suarez, and Asdolah Khairandish. Thank you to so many people who contributed hundreds of volunteer hours to make this performance unique and a huge success.

Thank you also to the full audience that night. This was an amazing experience of community working together. We were united by a common goal – to raise awareness in the community of some of the stories of former refugees living and working in Central Alberta, using multimedia. Stories that are engaging, authentic, and rich. We became totally committed and passionately involved in the process.

My heartfelt thanks to every single person for bringing this vision to fruition. I thank everyone on behalf of the former refugees whose stories you told, for ensuring that they became such an integral part of writing the stories, developing the script and making decisions on creative ways to tell their stories, and being in the performances themselves. This project united people of many cultures, with many different backgrounds, through many forms of art. It is an example of one way to integrate people — give them a common cause to work on collectively so that integration is a natural process. Friendships formed and relationships built will be long lasting.

Thank to our sponsors – Alberta Culture Days, Heuer Design, CAFF (Central Alberta Film Festival) and Red Deer College, Central Alberta Refugee Effort and Earthdance, Red Deer.

To view the documentary, email jan.underwood@care2centre.ca.

Jan Underwood – Public Awareness Coordinator, Central Alberta Refugee Effort, Red Deer

Unite the right

As a past member of the Conservative party and Wildrose Party, I am not happy with parties thinking they can each win the next election on their own.

The only way they can defeat the NDP is by uniting the right. It worked with the federal Conservatives and Reform parties finally getting together and winning several terms in Ottawa. The leaders of these two provincial parties better get their head out of sand and see the light.

If right wing voters have to choose between two parties the vote will be split and the NDP will be laughing all the way into office once again in 2019.

The NDP can more easily be defeated if the right wing parties would unite.

Lloyd N. Smith, Red Deer

Dogs in malls

So I recently moved to Red Deer from Vancouver via Nova Scotia. I’ve been staying in hotels since August. I have a Boston terrier who is basically scared of people and cries when I leave her. Over the last two months, she has flown in the cabin on Westjet planes, comes into banks, doctors’ offices, hair salons, and even Safeway. I have a cage for her and she sits in the cage and doesn’t say a peep. Well this past week, while walking through, Bower Place Mall, I was asked to leave the mall because of my dog. Since she isn’t a service animal, then she can’t be in the mall, even though she was in a cage. I can’t leave her in the hotel room because careless people leave dogs that bark, so it ruins it for good people. So what is the problem with my dog in a cage? She technically might not be a service animal, but she provides support to me. My dog is cleaner than some people in the mall, so if you’re worried about food safety, don’t be. You should be more worried about the kid cooking your burger who doesn’t care if he or she has a job. The policy is outdated and needs to be adjusted to reflect society. Welcome to Red Deer, now keep your dog out of our mall.

Grant Crossley, Red Deer