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Alberta is located in Western Canada, and is bordered by British Columbia to the west, and Saskatchewan to the east. The province has a history of employing restorative justice practices that date back many years. Today, Alberta has many restorative justice platforms operating across the province. The present study sought to uncover the genesis of restorative justice in Alberta, and specifically, what has contributed to the growth of restorative justice in this province. To do this, we conducted a qualitative study, in which we interviewed 13 Key Informants from across Alberta. Responses to the question of what contributed to the growth of restorative justice in Alberta were coded and analyzed. The findings of this study are categorized into three major themes: Community, Justice System, and Government. Each of these themes explores several topics, such as community engagement and the push from grassroots organizations, the role of courts, RCMP, judges, and other leaders in the justice system, as well as government funding and programming. This presentation also explores the ‘restorativeness’ of specialized courts such as the Calgary Indigenous Court; a topic that is becoming especially important in recent years. This paper ends with limitations and areas for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the strategies used by government-sponsored institutions dedicated to addressing systemic barriers to employment for racialized immigrants in Edmonton. The research involved conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with service providers, employment program coordinators from different settlement and employment agencies, and a research and training centre operating in Edmonton, Alberta. The first objective is to understand the barriers racialized immigrants face through the hiring and promotion process. The second objective is to understand the support provided by those institutions and the impact of their equity policies on how they assist racialized Canadians in finding gainful employment. Lastly, this study explores the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement on the employment of racialized immigrants in Edmonton. The results show that around 50% of employment service providers acknowledged that visible minority immigrants face barriers while integrating into the labour market, including racial microaggressions in their jobs. In addition, the findings indicate a lack of programs tailored to the needs of racialized job seekers. Participants in this study reported that the Black Lives Matter movement raised awareness among employers regarding racial issues in the workplace. Hence, there is a demonstrated need for employers to undergo training to recognize and address racism in hiring, promoting, and retaining racialized employees at Canadian workplaces. Interviewees recognized that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted racialized employees and newcomers. They recommended that Canadian companies establish educational programs that emphasize the importance and benefits of racial diversity, equity, and inclusion in the hiring process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article introduces the special issue of REPCS dedicated to the analysis of the restructuring of higher education in Alberta, Canada. It describes the acceleration of the processes of commodification of education and research and the corporatization of institutional governance under the government that took office in April 2019. The Alberta case is situated within the political economy of this petro-state, governed by a right-wing populist party, as well as in relation to the global trends in post-secondary education driven by neoliberal regimes. Further, the article highlights the cracks in the foundations of modern universities that have deeper historical origins than neoliberalism, and that are widening as the governance and raison d'etre of these institutions are challenged by global socio-ecological crises and Indigenous-led decolonization and climate justice movements. Drawing upon firsthand knowledge, as a participant in the struggles at the University of Alberta, as well as extensive research into the government's restructuring agenda and the impacts on the post-secondary sector, the author outlines proposals for reform of the legislative framework governing the relationship between universities and the state, as well as the internal governance of the institution, and assesses the current terrain of agency for such transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objective: The goal of this study is to understand the attitudes and beliefs towards mandatory vaccination policies in Alberta, Canada in September 2021, during the fourth wave of COVID-19. Methods: 9400 posts between 1st September and 30th September 2021 were collected from the subreddit r/Alberta with Pushshift.io. Posts and comments were manually screened to determine their relevance to research objectives, and then coded using inductive coding and iterative qualitative analysis methods. Results: Inductive coding methods yielded five key themes: 1) opinions related to autonomy and consent, 2) concerns about COVID-19 vaccine passport enforcement, 3) concerns about government, 4) concerns about the logistics of passports, and 5) opinions relating to the necessity of passports to prevent lockdowns. Conclusion: Overall, the data presented favorable opinions towards an Albertan vaccine passport within r/Alberta. Anti-vaccine and anti-mandate opinions were often less extreme than those present in the literature, although this may be due to r/Alberta subreddit moderators removing those more extreme comments. Most reservations were due to issues of bodily autonomy, though concerns about the government and logistics also played a meaningful role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to gain insight into the ways in which M'etis youth describe, understand, and express their identity and how this relates to their overall health and well-being. There has been a lack of opportunity for M'etis to identify and control depictions of themselves. As part of a larger intergener-ational digital storytelling research project, this research under-took a community-engaged, arts and strengths-based approach using semi-structured interviews and digital stories with M'etis from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta to identify how they have come to understand what it means to be M'etis today in Canada. The findings of this study reaffirm an explicit connection between M'etis youth's identity and their overall health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]