EDMONTON – When the University of Alberta totalled up its applications from international graduate students wanting to study in Edmonton this September, the school noticed something it hadn’t seen before.

Typically, the largest group of students comes from China, followed by the United States and France. But this year, Iran led the way with 618 master’s and PhD applicants, a jump of 60 per cent over 2008.

The Islamic republic erupted in turmoil this summer, when a disputed election led to mass protests both inside the country and around the world.

“This year there is a very dramatic increase, and in all likelihood the political reason may play a role,” said Britta Baron, provost and vice-president international at the University of Alberta.

“They are well-trained by Iranian universities, the language barrier is not very serious and they seem to integrate very well.”

It’s a trend that has been noticed at other schools across the country and was happening even before this summer’s events.

The number of graduate students from Iran tripled between 2002 and 2006, according to figures from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. Iran ranked sixth among countries sending graduate students to Canada in 2006, the association said.

At McGill in Montreal, Iran ranked 14th in 2003. It is now eighth, with 149 grad students accepted in 2008.

Lissa Matyas, recruitment director at McGill, said the jump is, in part, a result of a targeted marketing campaign. McGill advertises fellowship opportunities to students in specific faculties at prestigious Iranian schools.

“The admission in engineering has skyrocketed due to this proactive approach,” said Matyas, who added the difficulty Iranians have applying for visas to study in the United States has also been a boon for Canadian universities.

The brain drain from Iran to Alberta is good for both the University of Alberta, which is trying to recruit more researchers, and for the students, who are looking for more opportunities, said professor Alidad Amirfazli, who is originally from Iran.

“In Iran, education is also a praised value and Canada needs a knowledge-based workforce,” Amirfazli said.

Students in the Middle Eastern country have to pass a national exam to get into university and, similar to undergraduates in Canada, they have to spend four years studying before applying to a graduate program. They come to Canada from top-notch schools such as Sharif University of Science and Technology or the University of Tehran.

Kasra Nikooyeh is not surprised Iranian engineers are choosing Alberta to continue their careers.

The 26-year-old chemical engineering student said Iranian students are using blogs and emails to share their stories with their peers back home.

“There are five or six schools in Iran where the students are coming from, so the word of mouth has a significant impact in this recruitment,” he said.

Some of the students are snatched up by oil companies and energy contractors in Alberta.

However, others have dreams of returning home.

Mahdi HajiAghayi is in his second year of a PhD program at the University of Toronto. He completed a master’s program at the University of Alberta two years ago.

“Now it’s easier to come because there is a bigger community of Iranians performing well, but the jobs opportunities here remain limited,” he said.

He is planning to finish his degree in Canada and then go back to Iran.

“I want to pass my experience to the future generations there and I am very positive that the situation in my country will improve.”

© The Canadian Press, 2009

Sandra Farias, THE CANADIAN PRESS

EDMONTON – As students sharpen their pencils for another school year, more families are relying on food banks to fill not only their children’s lunch boxes, but their backpacks as well.

Low-income families struggling to pay for rent and food are finding it difficult to manage the extra expense of the new school supplies that every returning student craves, says Katharine Schmidt, executive director at Food Banks Canada.

“Even $10 or $15 (in savings) can make a significant difference to those who are struggling with limited incomes.”

About half of the 700,000 families who use food banks have school-age children, Schmidt says.

In the York region north of Toronto, food banks are quickly running out of school supplies. They had planned to hand over 530 school bags this year, but with two weeks left to go before classes begin, they have already given out 519.

“The use of food banks has gone up and now the demand for backpacks is growing,” says York Region Food Network executive director Joan Stonehocker.

The region has almost one million residents, and 13 per cent of them fall below the poverty line, but food banks didn’t expect the high demand for school supplies this year.

“I don’t know what we are going to do in the next weeks,” says Stonehocker.

In Montreal, NDG Food Bank executive director Fiona Keats has been seeing more newcomers from Latin America looking for help.

“We are seeing more families having to choose between buying food and getting school supplies,” she says. “It’s such a high cost to set your kids up for school.”

School supplies can cost up to $100 per student, she says. That’s on top of other fees that schools charge at the start of the year.

Parents on welfare can ask provincial governments for extra money when their children go back to school. In Alberta, for example, low-income parents can claim between $50 and $175 per child, depending on their grade, says Janice Schroeder, with Alberta Employment.

The Salvation Army is carrying out a campaign across the country to collect hundreds of backpacks full of supplies before the end of this month. The charity is asking for donations of non-toxic markers, notebooks, geometry sets, dictionaries, pencils, erasers, pencil cases, highlighters and glue sticks.

“A lot of families with school children are new clients,” says Pam Goodyear, spokeswoman with the Salvation Army in Calgary. “The increase of clients, depending on the province, goes between five to 30 per cent.”

Volunteers at the food bank in Oromocto, N.B., are trying to collect sets of Crayola pencils because many teachers ask that their students use that brand specifically.

“Kids should be allowed to bring to school what their parents can afford, without being penalized or looking down,” says food bank co-ordinator Bernice MacKinnon.

Toronto elementary school teacher Emilia Merlo says low-quality pencils tend to break more easily and that’s why teachers recommend a specific brand.

Pressure to have the best products also comes from classmates.

“We see students competing a lot between them to follow the last trend,” Merlo says. Susan Brown, the mother of an eight-year-old girl in Vancouver, says schools create problems when they stop buying bulk materials and ask students to bring their own.

“I’ve seen children get really stressed.”

Parents can save money by purchasing school supplies throughout the year as needed, rather than buying everything up front and ending up with a lot of supplies their children don’t need, says Helen Ward, president of the parents association Kids First.

The group has been asking the federal government to regulate advertising targeting children.

“When back-to-school flyers come to your door, throw them out,” Ward says. “I would encourage parents to basically ignore what the school is asking them to buy.”

Ward says kids are getting more pressure from corporations and from their own peers to have new outfits and expensive electronic equipment, such as computers and iPods.

“Try to inculcate in your children family values and keep them away from corporate values.”

© The Canadian Press, 2009

August 30, 2009 – 11:59

EDMONTON – In a hilly field filled with shrubs and trees in an undeveloped part of the zoo, a massive creature plays hide-and-seek with her keepers.

Slowly walking around a pathway the animal remembers well, she soaks up the sun and breeze while cavorting with its human friends.

“She loves grazing on the grass up here,” says head zookeeper Wade Krasnow, who has been caring for the animal for almost two decades.

“She” is Lucy, a beloved Asian elephant who has been a fixture at Edmonton’s Valley Zoo for the last 32 years.

Lucy is at the centre of a long-standing and escalating debate between the city-owned zoo and a growing group of high-profile animal rights advocates over how the animal should spend her remaining years.

Advocates say the Valley Zoo is too small for Lucy and that she would be happier and healthier in a larger refuge with other elephants.

“Lucy is socially isolated, forced to endure cold weather, has very little space in her enclosure and many medical problems,” says Julie Woodyer, national campaign director with Zoocheck Canada.

Zoo staff, who have cared for Lucy almost her entire 34-year life, fear that moving the pachyderm away from her keepers will cause too much stress and push the animal over the edge.

“It could be life-threatening for her health condition,” says Dr. Milton Ness, Lucy’s veterinarian.

Zoocheck has launched a public campaign to push for Lucy’s relocation to a sanctuary in the United States and wants the city to do an “independent” assessment of the elephant’s health.

It has launched a website and is running ads around the city. “Your tax dollars pay for her suffering,” reads one. “Isolation and bitter cold winter on the way. Hasn’t she endured enough?” reads another.

In a letter to city council sent in July, elephant behaviour expert Dr. Joyce Poole said that “after 32 years of captive misery, Lucy deserves to be given what is in her best interests.”

Last May, a number of Canadian authors, including Barbara Gowdy, Elizabeth Abbott, Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje, sent a letter to the Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel asking him to facilitate Lucy’s transfer to a better home.

And next month, Zoocheck says Bob Barker, former game show host and prominent animal rights advocate, is coming to Edmonton to pressure city councillors to move Lucy.

Ness admits Lucy has health problems. On top of early arthritis, Lucy has developed a respiratory condition due to a malpositioned molar.

“It’s like people with asthma,” Ness says. “This problem has been going on since 2005, so I’m not expecting an instantaneous or quick recovery.”

Ness says the Valley Zoo takes good care of Lucy and a sanctuary won’t necessarily meet her needs “because her imprint is bond to people.” And her respiratory condition makes travelling “impossible.”

At this time of the year, zoo staff say Lucy takes up to three strolls a day to a back paddock where she grazes and climbs hills for a couple of hours. Her favourite time is when she showers, grabbing the hose with her trunk. Zoo keepers scrub her from back to front, while she submerges her paws in a special soap solution as part of the care for her feet.

If the high-profile campaign fails, Zoocheck says it will consider legal avenues.

Woodyer argues that Alberta standards for zoos makes it illegal to keep an elephant alone because of the animal’s social needs.

“The zoo is keeping other veterinarians from examining her because she is maybe healthy enough to travel and then, by law, she must be moved right away,” Woodyer says.

But Bill Peters, president of the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums, says there is a health exception to that rule.

“The situation of Lucy is absolutely not illegal and it doesn’t contravene our standards,” he says.

The average lifespan for an Asian elephant living in captivity is 44.8 years, according to association figures.

Zoocheck says Lucy should be moved as soon as possible, but Valley Zoo staff disagree.

“Nobody can predict the future,” says Maureen Anderson, another one of Lucy’s keepers who has cared for the elephant for 21 years.

“We have to take one day at a time.”

Last Updated: 2nd September 2009, 2:19pm

The sketch of the rodent looks menacing.

“You can’t ignore the rat,” the caption reads. “Kill him.”

The poster dates back to the 1950s when, for 10 straight years, the rat was the public enemy No. 1 in Alberta and citizens united behind the cause of preventing an infestation.

As the province currently struggles to maintain its self-proclaimed status as the only rat-free jurisdiction in North America, researchers at the University of Alberta say one of the main reasons spotting a rat in the province is big news today is because the rodents were so vilified in a campaign six decades ago.

“The rat-free idea became a very important part of the Alberta identity,” says visual culture master’s student Jingjing Zheng, who along with art design professor Lianne McTavish, has done a visual analysis of the provincial government’s decade-long campaign against rats, which started in 1950.

“These visual materials played a very important role constructing community identity,” Zheng said.

Material collected from the time has a distinctly propaganda feel.

Posters were mostly about defending the province’s boundaries from “an enemy” and shaping “an identity.” Citizens were taught to be alert and able to spot “enemy activity,” McTavish said. The posters touted the Alberta Rat Proofing and Rat Control Act and were put up at hundreds of government buildings and schools around Alberta.

“We were surprised to see how many posters showed the enemy as a rat,” McTavish said.

The province also distributed 1,500 anti-rat pamphlets to citizens each year.

The study also found Norway rats portrayed as Second World War enemies — the Japanese and Nazis.

“We find them fascinating and very funny too,” McTavish said. “They were very complicated, multi-layer images — almost like cartoons — sending a mix of messages.”

But the campaign was about more than messaging.

The province hired pest control officers to patrol the Saskatchewan boundary and paid a Winnipeg company thousands of dollars to “poison proof” a 250-kilometre stretch, blowing 60,000 pounds of rat contact powder along the boundary.

At the time, farmers also received free rat poison and rat corpses — imported from Winnipeg — were posted at government offices, schools and public events to re-enforce the message that the best rat was a dead rat.

Rats have always been linked to poverty and diseases, so the government played on people’s sense of citizenship, Zheng said.

There was also an emphasis on the family values, McTavish said.

“A beautiful farmstead and a happy family were the social values behind these posters,” she said.

“They presented a certain view of Alberta as distinctive within North America and populated, for the most part, by citizens who were devoted to these values of keeping out these vermin rats.”

Today, governments are more cautious about using the rat-free label, opting instead to say the province is “basically or essentially rat-free.”

The rodents surface in the province from time to time. Rats in one Calgary neighbourhood made headlines just this week.

“It’s pretty much impossible to say that there is not a single rat in Alberta,” McTavish said.

“That’s pretty unlikely.”

By Sandra Farias, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Last Updated: 13th August 2009, 3:08pm

People apparently opposed to nuclear power in Alberta have depicted their views on at least one billboard that touts the controversial technology.

Bruce Power, an Ontario company exploring nuclear development in the province, has put up billboards pitching the power source as a clean energy alternative in four Alberta communities.

But one of the company’s ads recently was painted over with a glowing, dead cow with a nuclear symbol branded on its rump and the slogan “A New Brand of AB Beef.” There was also a radioactive symbol painted in the “o” in Bruce Power’s name.

Albert Cooper, a spokesman with Bruce Power, shrugged off the graffiti.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “We simply replaced the board and moved on.”

Still, photos of the billboard were circulated among anti-nuclear advocates.

Bruce Power, which is lobbying to build between two and four reactors in Alberta, has been running its ad campaign since the spring.

“We want people to know about our company, and billboards are one way to let people know our name and about our presence,” Cooper said.

Nuclear development has been a contentious issue in the province, which is considering it as an option to ease dependence on coal while expanding the power supply.

The province says Alberta’s peak demand for energy could be over 16,800 megawatts by 2024 — a 74 per cent increase over 2007.

Environmentalists argue nuclear power is dangerous and advocates for other forms of energy argue it’s too expensive.

Peace River in northwestern Alberta has been cited as a possible location for a reactor.

Brenda Brochu with the Peace River Environmental Society said one of the main concerns is that a plant could cause increased rates of cancer, especially leukemia among children.

Tom Weis of the Pembina Institute, an environmental think-tank, questioned how quickly a nuclear project could be developed and how much money it would cost.

“We know we can get renewable sources into the ground much faster and at lower cost with a lot less of environmental risks.”

The Alberta government says no final decisions have been made. A survey, online consultations and six stakeholder meetings have been held to gauge opinion.

Alberta Energy spokesman Jerry Bellikka said the feedback won’t be compiled until the fall.

As for the graffiti, “it sounds like someone has taken offence on an advertisement when the government doesn’t even have yet a nuclear policy for the province,” Bellikka said.

Last Updated: 9th August 2009, 4:42pm

EDMONTON — Juelle Smalridge was overwhelmed when she became a mother at age 17, but she juggled her new parental responsibilities with her studies and finished high school, something not many teen parents in Alberta are able to do.

Smalridge, who is now 18 with a 14-month-old son, is one of the successful students at Braemar, a school created by the Terra Association for pregnant and parenting teens in Edmonton.

“Unfortunately, the percentage going back to school is very small,” said Karen Mottershead, executive director at Terra.

Many teen mothers quit classes because they are living on their own, without family support, and are daunted by a bureaucratic maze they must navigate to get government help to go back to school, Mottershead said.

There are 37 agencies and dozens of programs for children and parents, but Alberta doesn’t have a dedicated pot of money for teen moms, so they have to meet the same criteria as an adult parent looking for aid in several areas.

“It’s almost that they have been penalized by the system for being pregnant,” Mottershead said.

She said the current system doesn’t consider the challenges faced by young mothers who are living on their own. And statistics show that teenagers who give birth, particularly between the ages of 15 and 17, are likely to be single.

“What we find most striking is that this is not people trying to apply for post-secondary education, they just want to go through high school, which is a fundamental right.”

Terra’s research has identified “significant challenges in securing financial assistance to complete high school,” such as different eligibility levels, administrative requirements and processing times which contribute to delays.

The government recognizes the problem.

Cathy Ducharme, spokeswoman for Children and Youth Services, suggests “it’s easier for young parents to contact an in-take worker rather than navigate the system by themselves.”

Terra is currently working on a report that recommends one funding package for teen moms that would help pay for food, shelter and child care as soon as they go back to school.

Child-bearing not only risks a young mother’s education, but also reduces her employment opportunities.

“I’ve been looking for a job since June, but most employers will see you as irresponsible because you have a child,” said Smalridge.

Social assistance is available, but teen mothers must be at least 18 to qualify. Those who are younger and want to return to school must show an income tax return and be enrolled full-time before they can receive funding.

And once money is secured, not having a babysitter, especially when a child is sick, might force a mother to miss classes and jeopardize her government cheque.

Finding child care can be difficult when class schedules conflict with nurturing a baby, said Adine Shuchuk, co-ordinator for West Edmonton Parent Link, another agency that helps teen moms.

“Teens with children don’t get offered the same rights as an adult.”

Another chronic problem for young mothers is housing.

“Having affordable housing, being able to manage their bills … are key components for these kids to succeed,” said Vicky Green, a community worker at St. Mary’s, a social group in Ottawa.

Many organizations say funding for teen parents hasn’t increased in many years, although services are more complex and budgets are being stretched to provide counselling, home visits, housing and education.

Despite a decline in the teen pregnancy rate, the birth rate among women 15 to 19 is still very high in Canada compared with other developed nations such as France, Germany, Italy and the Scandinavian countries, according to Statistics Canada.

Teenage pregnancy rates tends to be higher in the North and the Prairie provinces, while Quebec shows the lowest numbers in the country.

A Public Health Canada report in 2004 said the rate in First Nations adolescent girls (under the age of 15) was especially high, particularly on reserves, where it was about 18 times higher than girls in the general Canadian population.

Teen pregnancy is easier to prevent when sex education is part of schooling and family conversations, Mottershead suggested.

But in Alberta new legislation gives parents the right to pull their children from classrooms when teachers are discussing sexual orientation and sexuality.

It’s a step back from some of the “good work done to empower young people and to educate teens to have healthy relationships,” she said.

“If now we’re going to be further under the cloak, we don’t know the consequences.”

By Sandra Farias, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Last Updated: 5th September 2009, 1:12pm

EDMONTON — When Jodie McKague and husband Adam Larson buy groceries, they tend to shop along the perimeter of the store where fresh produce and meats are sold.

As new parents of a two-year-old, they are making “a more conscious effort about foodstuff,” trying to buy “as fresh as possible.”

“I don’t want my daughter to think the only taste out there comes out of packages,” McKague says. “That will make me really sad.”

For the McKagues, “preservative” is a bad word.

But scientists at the University of Alberta are working toward food additives that will appeal to people who avoid synthetic materials in their foods by focusing on the power of natural preservatives.

Mangos, wheat and barley are all being studied in the hopes of making food safer, while not turning off the consumer opposed to having artificial compounds in what they eat.

“Food processing and distribution are facing new safety issues,” says Michael Gaenzle, a professor in the department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta.

“It’s very difficult to get ready-to-eat produce free of pathogens without damaging the product,” he says.

“That’s a new challenge to keep the food supply safe.”

The researchers are trying to come up with preservatives to be used in ready-to-eat salads, fruits, sprouts, and luncheon meats — all of which are prone to the development of Listeria, salmonella, E. coli and other harmful bacteria.

The potentially deadly micro-organisms can survive even when food is in the refrigerator and can spread to hands, counters, utensils and slicers.

Listeria killed 22 Canadians in an outbreak linked to deli meat in 2008. The Independent Listeriosis Investigative Review, released in July, reported that the number of listeriosis cases in Canada has double since 2005.

The University of Alberta researchers are studying food germ killers that are naturally derived.

“If you replace chemicals with a natural preservative, without compromising safety, the (food) quality is better,” says Gaenzle.

Researchers have found bacteriocins — small proteins produced by lactic acid bacteria — can be used to kill Listeria in meat products.

“Most of these organisms do not harm humans or animals and are used to ferment food, for example, cheese, salami and yogurt,” Gaenzle says.

Gaenzle has also detected anti-Listeria compounds in polyphenols — a chemical present in all plants — derived from wheat and barley.

Fatty acids, also found in wheat and barley, could be used to extend the shelf life of cereals and breads, says Gaenzle.

An extract from mango has been found to be “highly effective“ on salads and sprouts to kill Listeria.

Christina Engels, a PhD student in the department, says the mango pits contain tannins —a substance in many fruits, such as grapes.

“These tannins are really a strong natural preservative,” Engels says.

Mango is one of the most popular fruits marketed worldwide, she says, but the pits are not used.

The preservative could be used as an ingredient in ready-to-eat salads and fresh juices, if approved by Health Canada.

But getting that approval is not easy.

“All chemicals that are added to a food, whether they are synthesized or derived from a plant extract, have to undergo a rigorous pre-market safety assessment,” says Health Canada spokesman Stephane Shank.

There are at least 380 food additives approved for various uses in Canada.

Engels says she chose mangoes for her study because “natural preservatives have a potential market among consumers looking at more organic and natural foods.”

However, to be considered organic, a food preservative extracted from a fruit or an agricultural source would have to also come from a product that has been grown organically, says Matthew Holmes, a director with the Organic Trade Association.

As for McKague, the best recipe for her family right now is to avoid preservatives.

“If something has been preserved, you don’t know what is inside.”

In which planet do you spend most part of your life? The bright question came across when ignorant Americans start saying Obama’s health plan reminds them of Hitler or communists. They had no idea what they were talking about.

The scary moustache on Obama’s face appeared in one of the complaint posters allowed at the town-hall meetings where people have been called to express their opinions and concerns. Town-halls are like the best attempt to exercise democracy, so the posters are really far from reality, at least the reality in America now. What stroke me the most is the blunt ignorance they use as part of their non-sense arguments. And a scary feeling crossed my mind, that the whole issue of health care could trigger followers of Palin and McCain to take their revenge to another more vicious step after their historical defeat last November.

In Canada, France, and many other countries people count on a health care system after paying their taxes, so when they are sick they don’t pay for hospitalization or treatments. This is not about a right or left wing ideology. It’s about dignity and quality of life.  For Americans complaining about paying taxes to have a much better access to health care for everyone have to do with their obscenity to believe they live in a country where health is just for the privileged, guns are the only answer to conflict and nobody should pay taxes. These societies where vicious corruption and violence are taking the streets every day are found in many places around the underdeveloped world, and in one particularly close to their south border, so I am sure these fellow Americans could have plenty of choices to move if they plan to keep their privileges and guns.

As I wait for the train this morning I decided to forget my citizenship and travel without paying the train fare. I did it because I know I have 15 days to plan for a new life project, as this one I’ve started almost two years ago is coming to an end, so this morning I took a risk. In the evening, as I was coming back, I took a double risk.

My day went almost perfect, unless one of my interviewees ask for a correction in one of my recent articles. When in doubt cut it out. That’s the rule number one in this job, and today I  understood its meaning. But for some reason, I didn’t feel guilty at all for my mistake and that’s a good sign. I’ve been really harsh on me lately, and any other day that email I found this morning ,as soon as I arrive at the newsroom, would had made me feel upset all day. But it didn’t, and I’ m still surprised of my capacity to control the adversity.

The other part of the day it went much better. I spent it with an elephant and her zoo keepers. I felt relief to see that everything I read about elephants in children books when I was a girl it was true, especially about their memory skills. It was nice to see that elephants enjoy human company and I couldn’t resist the memories of Bill Murray in that movie when he travels with an elephant through North America, which name I can’t remember…

Talking about movies, I decided the weather was perfect -not cold, not hot, not rainy, not foggy, not humid, you name it-,  to stay in town after work and went to see a movie where the two protagonists find a recipe to live for. I knew it was going to be moving my stomach, so I stopped by the best rotisserie in town and got for dinner a Sicilian vegetarian grilled “panini” with asparagus, peppers, mushrooms and artichokes. Delicious as the movie…

There was one more risk to take as I was heading back to my room. I knew the kitchen in the house I share with three male students was going to be as disgusting as I saw it this morning, not a dream kitchen at all, in fact the worst nightmare if you think with the eyes of someone who enjoys food and cooking in a clean one.

I decided to take another risk, and I not only travel without paying the fare on my way back but I also walked through a path made in a construction area that made the perfect scene for a creepy movie, one of those stories I had to write about too many times this past month.

I made it without bad surprises, and as I was walking in that solitary alley I thought of my next project and all came to place. I forgot to mention, that a purple sunset was still going on at the river as I crossed to the other side.