2016 Year in Review — September
As we prepare to say goodbye to 2016, BattlefordsNow.com is taking a look at some of the top news items that made headlines and newsmakers over the past 12 months.
As students began to head back to class there was good news on the education front. A program aiming to improve graduation rates of First Nations and Metis students at North Battleford Comprehensive High School was seeing some positive results. Graduation coach Jess Armstrong says the rate of graduation for First Nations and Metis students has roughly tripled since 2012. When Education Minister Don Morgan visited the high school, he said he’d heard a lot of good feedback about the program, which is taking place in schools across the province. Meanwhile Superintendent Duane Hauk said there was 4,700 kids registered this year, roughly a dozen more than last year.
As the area continued its slow recovery from the Husky Oil spill, the authors of an independent study into the Husky oil spill asked the company to release all of its test results to the public. The study was commissioned by groups that include Idle No More and the National Aboriginal People’s Circle. It says Husky should have acted more quickly after the July spill. Ricardo Segovia worked on the report for Utah-based e-tech and Resurgence Environmental. He says the air quality should have also been a priority. But Husky says it is monitoring air quality, and following all the required safety procedures. The company also says it acted quickly, and it’s shared all of its data with the affected cities and the regulator.
A local woman hit a big casino jackpot in the Battlefords. Jenifer Kryzanowski hit the big prize on the Rider Nation progressive slot at the Gold Eagle Casino, for a jackpot of just under $100,000. The progressive prize linked together 32 machines in the six SIGA casinos with the top prize of $100,000.