March 2012 News in Review

history makes news: Wayne macdonald unveils reclaimed photos of Canada’s forefathers Wayne MacDonald, soft-spoken Manager of Government Studies at Extension, spends most days planning courses and conferences; in his spare time, he’s one of those people who uses “antique” as a verb. He never expected to become a media darling overnight.

However, after a day of lengthy interviews with local and national print and broadcast media, he looked noticeably more tan from all his time in the spotlight.

This was the Wayne MacDonald that addressed an excited crowd at the Serendipity event held at theUniversity of Alberta’s Faculty Club on February 29: Standing alongside former Deputy Prime Minister Ann McClellan, Wayne recounted the story of the events leading up to this surreal day. “’Serendipity’ is the perfect word to describe what brings us here today,” said Wayne. “Sometimes, good fortune finds you out of nowhere. And sometimes, it happens in the middle of a snowstorm in Winnipeg.”

That was the scene in 2003, when Wayne took a break from his business travels to look for a Mother’s Day gift for his wife, Elizabeth. Finding nothing in the local mall, he asked a local whether there was an antique shop nearby. Indeed there was.

“It was on Edmonton street,” recalled Wayne, “so I thought that might be a good omen.”

Wayne combed through the store’s offerings, finding mostly nothing, until Faye Stettler, the antique dealer, offered to show him the back room (which, according to Wayne, is where the real treasures are buried).

He would have no idea of the treasure he would find.

“On the floor, adorned in these unbelievable Victorian and Edwardian frames, I saw the face of my great-great grandfather, Sir Charles Tupper.”

Not just ANY relation, Sir Charles was Premier of Nova Scotia in the early days of Canadian confederation, later serving as the sixth Prime Minister of Canada. And here he was, on the floor of an obscure antique shop, just one of 18 portraits taken between 1978 and 1915. Other photos and artwork depicted Tupper’s family and friends, notably another of Wayne’s relations, James MacDonald, close confidante to Tupper and a minister in the cabinet of Sir John A MacDonald.

More on page four...

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reprinted from university of alberta expressnews:

blackstock readies to lead aboriginal youth to geneva

By Geoff McMaster Printed: January 25, 2012

A professor in the Faculty of Extension will accompany six Aboriginal youth to Geneva next month to share their grievances with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The teenagers, from First Nations communities across Canada, will describe to the committee on Feb. 6 what it feels like to grow up receiving fewer government services such as education, health care and child welfare on reserves, says Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.

“These kids want to say, ‘We know we’re getting less because of who we are,’” says Blackstock, who says highlighting revelations of poor living conditions in Attawapiskat will be high on the delegation’s agenda.

“It wasn’t OK for African-American children to be told to get into a separate line because of who they were, and yet we’re doing that right here in Canada. [The children] want to say, ‘We know what’s happening to us, we know why, and we’re really worried about our future.’”

Blackstock and her group struck a partnership with the Extension faculty last year to conduct community-engaged research on the rights of children. She helped the Geneva youth delegation write its presentation and raise funds for the trip.

A member of the Gitksan Nation, she has worked in the field of child and family services for more than 20 years. Her key interests include exploring and addressing the causes of disadvantage for Aboriginal children and families by promoting equitable and culturally based interventions. In partnership with indigenous peoples around the globe, Blackstock has helped develop United Nations instruments on indigenous child rights.

“What I want to do is raise a generation of children who know they can be active agents of change,” she says. “So when they grow up concerned about the

environment or persons with disabilities or some other concern, they have just the tools to change Canada for the better.”

The trip to Geneva was inspired by the late Shannen Koostachin, a youth-education advocate from Attawapiskat First Nation who met with the federal minister of Indian Affairs in 2008 demanding proper schools and culturally based education for First Nations children on reserves. Her own school was in run-down portable trailers situated beside a toxic waste dump.

Koostachin was nominated in 2008 for the international Children’s Peace Prize, awarded by Nobel laureates. She died in a car accident in 2010.

An advocacy group called Shannon’s Dream was set up in her honour.

Sixteen-year-old Chelsea Edwards represents Shannen’s Dream and is among the delegates going to Geneva next month. “I hope the prime minister will do the right thing, but we are tired of waiting.”

“There are multiple solutions on the table, and racial discrimination against children is not a legitimate fiscal-restraint measure,” says Blackstock.

“Children only have one childhood. Canada must treat First Nations children fairly now.”

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premier redford wishes extension a happy birth... year.

In spite of a hectic schedule in an election year, Alberta’s Premier Alison Redford sent a signed letter of congratulations to the Faculty of Extension “for 100 years of nontraditional learning and community engagement.”

“Over the past 100 years, the Faculty of Extension has evolved into a world leader of scholarship that promotes community-based research in communication, discovery, and citizenship at on of Canada’s most distinguished institutions for learning” reads a snippet of the letter.

Our many thanks to friends like Premier Redford for recognizing the contributions of Extension over the past 100 years!

On behalf of City Council and the people of Edmonton, Alberta’s Capital City, it is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to all those attending the Lifelong Learning Awards Gala.

This year, the Lifelong Learning Awards Gala is celebrating the Faculty of Extension’s 100th anniversary. For a century, the Faculty of Extension has provided hundreds of thousands of students access to the University through its flexible learning opportunities. It has enriched the lives of many students from Alberta and beyond in their pursuit of lifelong learning.

I would like to congratulate all those faculty members who are being recognized tonight for their contributions to the pursuit of lifelong learning. You have made a difference and should be proud of your accomplishments.

Thank you to the University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension for organizing this event. Thank you for providing opportunities for Edmontonians to access adult education and research and to engage in community outreach. Through the pursuit of lifelong learning, you have helped make Edmonton a stronger, more livable city.

Enjoy the evening and congratulations!

Yours truly,

Stephen Mandel Mayor t

Above: We also received cheers and accolades from Stephen Mandel, Mayor of Edmonton, on the occasion of our centennial.

Celebrating Lifelong Learning in our Communities on March 29 and March 30, 2012, is a conference that focuses on how lifetime and life wide opportunities contribute to the strength of the various communities we are all a part of. From our own personal learning development, to our workplaces, to post-secondary and community learning, we contribute to the strength of our communities through the learning we engage in during our lifetime.

The Faculty of Extension, University of Alberta is very pleased to celebrate its Centenary with this signature event held during International Adult Learners week. This conference brings together leaders of community learning engagement from community learning practioners, academic researchers and educators, public policy makers, human resources and staff development professionals, local, regional and international partners working in lifelong learning and adult education.

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history makes news continued from page one “These were treasures of some of the most important years for my family and for Canada,” said Wayne. “I couldn’t leave the shop without them.”

After some financial wangling, Wayne and Faye met at what they considered a fair price, and once the deal was done, Faye told Wayne The Rest of the Story.

In the 1970s, Faye explained, she had been invited to buy some antique frames from an estate sale. Noticing the intricate detailing of some of these frames, she bought what she considered the cream of the crop and took them home.

When her mother saw the portraits, she insisted that Faye go back and buy the rest. But, when Faye called again, she was told the remaining portraits and frames had been thrown out.

Fade to a shot of another Manitoban winter, where Faye and her mother locate the dumpster containing the remains of the treasure. Faye climbs in, roots around, and daintily passes the rest of the portraits to her waiting mother.

Incredibly, the portraits and frames remained in the shop for another 30 years, waiting for a family relative who just happened to be an antique fan and a Canadian history buff, to find them on a reluctant shopping trip in a blustery snowstorm.

Serendipity.

For the last nine years, Wayne worked tirelessly with a photography student and a framing gallery to restore the portraits to their original splendour (not an easy job, since most of the portraits did some hard time in an antique shop… or a dumpster.

But, on the leap day of the Faculty of Extension’s centenary year, Wayne unveiled the newly-restored photographs for the first time to a throng of curious media, family members from near and far, and members of the general public.

“These photographs are like a string back to those founding fathers and their principles that I think helped build the kind of country we live in and love today,” MacDonald said. “How fitting we were able to show these photos in the year our Faculty celebrates the important people and events in our history that have contributed to our success today.”

scenes from our january 18 centenary kickoff:

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