{"id":78838,"date":"2024-06-22T13:44:06","date_gmt":"2024-06-22T13:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/22\/amid-the-stanley-cup-excitement-edmontons-downtown-struggles\/"},"modified":"2024-06-22T13:44:06","modified_gmt":"2024-06-22T13:44:06","slug":"amid-the-stanley-cup-excitement-edmontons-downtown-struggles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/22\/amid-the-stanley-cup-excitement-edmontons-downtown-struggles\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid the Stanley Cup Excitement, Edmonton\u2019s Downtown Struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/22\/world\/22canadaletter-edmmayor\/22canadaletter-edmmayor-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Amid the Stanley Cup Excitement, Edmonton\u2019s Downtown Struggles\" title=\"Amid the Stanley Cup Excitement, Edmonton\u2019s Downtown Struggles\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By the time this newsletter is published, the Edmonton Oilers will be either one game away from winning the Stanley Cup or out of the competition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While I was in Edmonton recently to write about the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/13\/stanley-cup-edmonton-oilers.html\" title=\"\">city\u2019s deeply ingrained nostalgia<\/a> for the Oilers\u2019 glory days and the excitement around the team\u2019s trip to the Stanley Cup finals this year, I met with Amarjeet Sohi, who became the city\u2019s mayor in 2021.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Sohi has an unusually varied background. When he returned to his native India from Edmonton in the late 1980s \u2014 the wonder time for the Oilers \u2014 he was imprisoned for 21 months and endured torture after being arrested on what the Canadian government, and ultimately an Indian court, deemed to be false terrorism allegations. He has been a taxi driver and a bus driver, a federal member of Parliament and a minister in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s cabinet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">We spoke about the Oilers\u2019 return to the finals, which has highlighted the vibrant bar and restaurant scene that developed around the team\u2019s arena after it opened eight years ago \u2014 and about the stark contrast with the rest of Edmonton\u2019s downtown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since the last two department stores closed, the shopping malls have been largely filled with empty storefronts. Many office towers in Edmonton, like those around the world, are still awaiting a return of workers after the pandemic. And there are large numbers of people living on the streets, many of whom appear to have severe addiction and mental health struggles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Our conversation has been edited for space and clarity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">When you were in Ottawa, what did you find that people outside Alberta don\u2019t understand about Edmonton?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Well, Canada\u2019s a very, very big country, we\u2019re very diverse, and we don\u2019t travel as much within Canada as we need to. So there\u2019s always different perceptions of people from different parts of the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sometimes people have a very bad impression of Edmonton being just a small town. It is a big city. We\u2019re bigger than Vancouver, although people sometimes think Vancouver is bigger than us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">People are moving into Edmonton. These last two years, we have seen 10 percent population growth \u2014 that\u2019s almost 100,000 new people. It\u2019s a challenge, but it\u2019s also an opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Is that adding to the housing challenges that are affecting most of Canada?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">We remain the most affordable big city in Canada. We are on target to build 35,000 homes in three years to retain that affordability.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But we don\u2019t have enough low-income, or nonmarket, housing. So we are looking at freeing up more city-owned land for housing. We no longer charge property taxes on projects by nonprofit, affordable housing providers. We also have a specific stream for Indigenous housing now.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">What\u2019s behind the homelessness problem in Edmonton?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The number of people who are experiencing homelessness has doubled \u2014 that\u2019s the reality coming out of Covid. While we are housing more people, more and more people are falling into homelessness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Edmonton serves a larger regional population, and the augmented Alberta population, as a health care and social services hub. So people who fall on hard times end up in Edmonton. Then they fall through the cracks, and they end up on the street. We see a lot of that happening, but we also see that people come to the city to access health care. If you talk to doctors, you will hear firsthand stories about people who don\u2019t have a home to go to when they\u2019re being released, and they end up on the street.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The second part is that the vast majority of the First Nations communities in northern Alberta are poorer and smaller than many other communities. So social infrastructure doesn\u2019t exist on those communities, and people move to Edmonton.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And the third one is that Edmonton has the highest amount of correctional facilities and jails in Western Canada.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">What\u2019s needed to solve it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are societal issues that are beyond the control of the city. We have no control over the root causes of poverty, mental health issues and homelessness. It is all interconnected and beyond the capacity of the cities to solve. That\u2019s where the federal and provincial governments have a bigger role to play. They are stepping up. But I think the need far exceeds the interventions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">What direction is downtown Edmonton headed in currently?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">We are creating more festivals to bring more people downtown. We have created specific grant funding to encourage more people to live downtown and 11 projects that are underway, and once they\u2019re completed, there will be close to 2,500 new residential units. Hockey definitely helps to bring more people downtown.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It is slowly getting better because we are able to provide more support to the vulnerable population. But we need to do more. The worst crisis we\u2019re facing is the overdose crisis.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"css-13o6u42 eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-b4a7c02\">Trans Canada<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<ul class=\"css-1le37cb ez3869y0\">\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">Prime Minister Justin Trudeau once told asylum seekers that Canada would welcome them. But thousands of refugees each year are now <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/15\/canada-refugees-immigration-prison.html\" title=\"\">being jailed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">In his <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/20\/movies\/donald-sutherland-dead.html\" title=\"\">obituary of Donald Sutherland<\/a>, who died this week at 88, Clyde Haberman writes that the actor had a \u201cchameleonlike ability to be endearing in one role, menacing in another and just plain odd in yet a third\u201d that appealed to famous directors in Europe and North America. Scott Tobias <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/21\/movies\/donald-sutherland-streaming.html\" title=\"\">selected 15 performances<\/a> by Mr. Sutherland to watch, out of the nearly 200 films he made. And in her appraisal of Mr. Sutherland\u2019s work, Alissa Wilkinson writes that he \u201cworked constantly and, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/20\/movies\/donald-sutherland-movies.html\" title=\"\">unlike some actors of his generation<\/a>, never really seemed like he belonged to a single era.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">Two cyberattacks brought <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/21\/business\/cyberattack-car-dealers-cdk.html\" title=\"\">disruption to Canadian car dealers<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">In their midyear list of the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/20\/arts\/music\/best-songs-2024-so-far.html\" title=\"\">best songs of 2024<\/a>, our pop music critics Jon Pareles and Lindsay Zoladz included releases by the Canadian artists Saya Gray and Lido Pimienta.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">Dr. Daniel Drucker, an obesity researcher at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, was involved in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/18\/health\/obesity-first-wegovy-zepbound-doctors.html\" title=\"\">the discovery of obesity drugs<\/a> that also make other chronic medical conditions go away.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"css-1i3ul0c eoqvrfo0\">\n<p class=\"css-1il0jfh evys1bk0\">An Indian man has pleaded not guilty to charges of orchestrating <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/17\/nyregion\/nikhil-gupta-india-assassination-plot.html\" title=\"\">a failed assassination plot against a Sikh separatist in New York<\/a>, a plan that prosecutors in the United States say he devised at the behest of officials in India\u2019s government. Evidence links the unsuccessful murder plan to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, which Canada has said was done by agents of the Indian government.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">A native of Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen was educated in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has reported about Canada for The New York Times for two decades. Follow him on Bluesky at <\/em><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/ianausten.bsky.social\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">@ianausten.bsky.social<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/><\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">How are we doing?<\/strong><br \/>We\u2019re eager to have your thoughts about this newsletter and events in Canada in general. Please send them to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/22\/world\/canada\/mailto:nytcanada@nytimes.com?%20subject=Canada%20Letter%20Newsletter%20Feedback\" title=\"\">nytcanada@nytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Like this email?<\/strong><br \/>Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/newsletters\/canada-letter?smid=nytemail&amp;smvar=canadaletter&amp;te=1&amp;nl=canada-today&amp;emc=edit_cnda_20190622\" title=\"\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/22\/world\/canada\/edmonton-amarjeet-sohi.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By the time this newsletter is published, the Edmonton Oilers will be either one game away from winning the Stanley Cup or out of the competition. While I was in Edmonton recently to write about the city\u2019s deeply ingrained nostalgia for the Oilers\u2019 glory days and the excitement around the team\u2019s trip to the Stanley [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/06\/22\/world\/22canadaletter-edmmayor\/22canadaletter-edmmayor-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1318,70755,70754,7206,4535,3152],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78840,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78838\/revisions\/78840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}