Year in Review – Chestermere-Strathmore Electoral Division

By Leela Sharon Aheer MLA Chestermere-Strathmore

What were the highlights you accomplished this year?

In April, Alberta’s government announced a charitable donation-matching program that matched donations up to $2 million. With Albertans’ donations the program, it raised approximately $7 million for the designated COVID-19 fundraising campaigns. 

We launched the Alberta Northern Lights Volunteer Recognition Program to recognize outstanding individuals or groups, including organizations and businesses, who exemplify Alberta’s spirit of volunteerism during the COVID-19 pandemic, and launched the Alberta Cares Connector. This collaboration with Propellus, the Volunteer Centre of Calgary, supported over 50,000 volunteer opportunities.

In June, the Overnight Camps (for Children and Youth) Facility Overhead Funding Program was launched to support these non-profit organizations with funding up to a maximum of $50,000, as they were not able to operate this year due to COVID-19. 

In November, we launched the Faith-Based and Cultural Facility Relaunch Grant. This one-time grant of up to $5,000 will help to offset costs incurred to meet the appropriate public health directives for Albertans during the COVID-19 crisis. The second intake will close March 1, 2021. 

Our community development unit has delivered its services online through 51 sessions with more than 2,400 attendees on topics such as the board development program, grant writing and “Non-profits in a New Reality.”

Government introduced Bill 8: Protecting Survivors of Human Trafficking Act. The Human Trafficking Task Force was announced in May, and will provide guidance and recommendations on how to best implement the government’s plan to combat human trafficking.

I introduced the Women in STEM Award Program. The program will consist of 50 awards worth $2,500 each, available to women pursuing studies in the STEM field while working to advance equity in their field.

This November, I declared the second Women’s Entrepreneurship Day in Alberta, and we invested nearly $100,000 to Be the Voice and the #16DaysofActivism campaign, and ongoing work to spread the word about healthy relationships and sexual consent.

With our sport ambassador, Olympian Erica Wiebe, and other partners, the ministry launched the Healthy At Home Alberta video series.

We supported the Alberta Spotlight online concert series with partners through a $125,000 grant that provided selected artists with a $1,000 grant to create pre recorded, high-quality videos to be shared online.

The Alberta Made Production Grant, launched in January, helps to develop Alberta’s film industry.

We produced Pivot Online: A Toolkit for Artists and Non-profit Organizations to help Albertans work remotely and engage with clients in new ways. There will also be a series of webinars, starting Dec. 16.

September was full of online and socially distanced celebrations during Alberta Culture Days. I saw firsthand the contributions of artists, cultural groups and community organizations.

What challenges did you face in 2020?

COVID-19 was a challenge no one expected. We had to adapt quickly to respond to the needs of our stakeholders.

I thrive on human interaction, and not being physically present with Albertans to commemorate various holidays and special occasions was a major challenge for me. 

How did you overcome these challenges and move forward?

The ministry pivoted to hosting virtual multicultural celebration events, helping expand the reach to communities across Alberta. 

To ensure there were no language barriers for Albertans to access key information and resources related to COVID-19, key media releases, fact sheets and social media content was translated into the 12 most commonly spoken languages in Alberta. Resources were shared with cultural organizations and ethnic media outlets to share with their community and through social media channels.

We held several telephone town halls to speak to community groups and organizations to understand the impacts of COVID-19 and provide information on supports and health guidelines.

What are your plans and hopes for 2021?

With the vaccine on its way, I am optimistic for Alberta to begin a process of recovery from both the pandemic and the unprecedented economic situation we now face.

The Alberta government is working on a Cultural Event Relaunch Program to support music, performing arts and landmark cultural events that have been especially hard hit by the public health measures.