Brett McKay, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Racialized ministers have found themselves waiting for years to get an appointment to a church in Canada through the admissions program.

Using groundbreaking rapid testing devices and an innovative community-involved project, researchers from the University of Alberta are hoping to remove barriers to treatment, and bend the curve of syphilis infections.

This is the second article in a two-part series on the loss of social services in rural Alberta and the social problems that have followed.

“I think the Lac La Biche Job Corps was unique. And I'm not aware of any program that's similar to it.”

Throughout the pandemic, provincially funded social supports were scaled back in rural Alberta. Services were consolidated. In-person offices closed. And long-running programs abruptly ended.

"There's been a spirit in Alberta political culture that we want as many people and as many different types of people voting in elections. That changes with Bill 20."

Using groundbreaking rapid testing devices and an innovative community-involved project, University of Alberta researchers are hoping to bend the curve of syphilis infections.

Alberta's rural leaderships say they are being actively undermined by Bill 20, and vow to "not sit back and take it."

The changes proposed in Alberta's Bill 20 have already created an atmosphere of silence and fear among municipal leaders, and will "fundamentally redraw the blueprint of our local democracy" if implemented, says Alberta Municipalities President Tyler Gandam.

"After a full year of doing MDMA assisted psychotherapy, I currently don't meet the diagnosis of having PTSD anymore."