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Video challenges Michener closure

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees debuted a new mini-documentary this week as those challenging the closure order of Michener Centre ramp up their efforts in advance of the Progressive Conservatives’ annual general meeting in Red Deer this weekend.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees debuted a new mini-documentary this week as those challenging the closure order of Michener Centre ramp up their efforts in advance of the Progressive Conservatives’ annual general meeting in Red Deer this weekend.

The six-minute video, released on YouTube on Tuesday under the title Michener Centre: Evicting Our Most Vulnerable, features ominous music, narration, interviews and text on screen such as “Going back on a promise. That’s not the Alberta way.”

Commissioned by AUPE, the video is the first of three short films critical of government decisions in the union’s The Alberta Way campaign.

Featured in the video are Bill Lough and Jody Kvern, who speak of their siblings’ lives at Michener Centre. Lough’s brother David lived at the residence for 27 years before he passed away; Kvern’s sister Jody still lives at Michener.

The video says the province’s closure announcement in March represented a broken promise that will force residents out of their homes “to live out in the community in places completely unfamiliar to them.”

Lough speaks of the “complete shock” that guardians of residents felt at the announcement, while Kvern is filmed inside Michener Centre with her severely disabled sister.

In a release, AUPE president Guy Smith said the film shows how the centre is uniquely equipped to handle the needs of the disabled.

“There is no way someone can see Michener as an institution after watching the film,” said Smith.

Coun. Dianne Wyntjes, a former provincial union leader, speaks of Red Deer city council’s motion to protest the closure in the video.

At its conclusion, the video states that the filmmakers interviewed “several experts” who questioned the centre’s closure, but who chose not to go on the record.

The video’s posting coincides with the release of two new newspaper ads featuring Lough and Kvern with lines such as “Evicting our Most Vulnerable Citizens. Is that the Alberta Way?”

The union is holding a fourth rally protesting the closure on Friday, to coincide with the Alberta Progressive Conservatives’ meeting, taking place at the Sheraton Hotel. The rally is to take place at the intersection adjacent to the hotel at 4 p.m.

The first two residents of the 122 scheduled to be transferred out of Michener Centre are now living in community group homes.

Two guardians of residents have launched legal challenges regarding the closure edict.

Other videos in the Alberta Way campaign will focus on flood recovery and post-secondary funding cuts.

mfish@www.reddeeradvocate.com