The Green Line, as announced by Mayor Naheed Nenshi and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this afternoon, is a go.

A news release from the Government of Alberta today also confirmed that the province has reviewed the City of Calgary's business case for the Green Line - and approved it.

That means all three levels of government are onboard the Green Line and, in the fall, construction in the Beltline begins.

As people across the city (and country) grapple with the truth of colonization, tomorrow can be a day for reflection and understanding. It can also be a day for action.

There are four events tomorrow, July 1st, that could use your support.

Healing Tipi(s) for Calgary
Raising of a Tipi at Fort Calgary

It is National Indigenous Peoples Day.

There are multiple events and awareness efforts throughout the city -- both today and this week -- that you might be interested in.

Responding to the graves of 215 Children at the Kamloops Residential School

The uncovering of the truth, that there are at least 215 children buried at the Kamloops residential school, sits heavy with all of us. As we have embarked on a deeper journey of wrestling with the truth of colonization and as we have listened to residential school survivors, we remember that we have often heard stories of the children who “didn’t make it”; the children who “disappeared” and of the many who died afterwards from the impacts of abuse suffered in residential schools. Why have we treated indigenous people’s lives as so much less valuable? Why do we continue to?

Langevin School has been renamed, effectively immediately, by the Calgary Board of Education!

In an emergency vote last night, the Calgary Board of Education Trustees voted to rename the school. Langevin School was named after Hector-Louis Langevin. Langevin was instrumental in promoting and implementing Residential Schools across what we call Canada. The Residential School system was designed with the explicit purpose of assimilating Indigenous Peoples into western society.

Every person, and every community, has experienced some type of loss since the pandemic began in early 2020. Grief is a natural human experience that we may be feeling. This toolkit is to help us think, act, and change through our grief stories, making them meaningful to us and our communities.

Our city and province are currently in an unprecedented third wave of the Coronavirus (Covid-19).

Medical staff, front-line workers and those contending with the pandemic are exhausted from managing this crisis.

Let's all do our part to work towards the common good by taking action:

April 16th, 2021. This week we had a victory for the city and the Calgary Alliance. The Calgary Police Service and AHS have agreed to expand the Police and Crisis Team (PACT) and Mobile Response Team (MRT).

What are PACT / MRT teams? The PACT teams consist of a mental health professional and a specially trained police officer. The mobile response teams are made up of mental health professionals. These teams respond to emergencies when having just a police officer simply does not make sense.

The Green Line Committee met last week - and we learned that construction of the line won't be starting until 2022.

We presented at City Council during the meeting. Jane Ebbern represented the team and you can listen in to her presentation below.

This morning, city council passed the Mental Health and Addictions Strategy.

Last week we took action by asking our city councillors to pass the Mental Health strategy at committee. Today it has now passed at council and will begin to be implemented across the city.