FortSask

Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau emphasized Canada’s role as a reliable and diversified trading partner and discussed opportunities for enhanced cooperation in the agricultural sector. 

Bibeau spoke at the International Grains Council - Grains Forum and reaffirmed Canada's support for Ukraine’s agricultural sector and the Black Sea Initiative while calling for further stability in the global grains value chain.

In Germany, Bibeau took part in the Berlin Agriculture Minister's Conference 2023 at the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.

A key challenge for the livestock sector is the shortage of veterinarians ...especially large animal vets.

As with the medical profession, we see international vets immigrating to the country that are looking to practice in Canada. 

In order to do so they must complete a Clinical Proficiency Examination at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.

Dean Dr. Gillian Muir says they are the only institution in Canada to offer the four-day exam which they host three or four times a year.

A couple of former Fort Saskatchewan hockey players have been recognized by the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) for their outstanding community service. 

Jayden Joly of the Blackfalds Bulldogs and Jaron Desnoyers of the Fort McMurray Oil Barons have both been named RBC community ambassadors.

Joly, who is from Fort Saskatchewan and played four seasons with the Rangers, keeps busy in Blackfalds by volunteering with animals. 

"I do a lot of work at the humane society," said Joly. "I help out the stray animals and take care of them." 

Two rival junior basketball teams joined together to support an injured player.

During Elk Island Public School's (EIPS) Junior Basketball Tournament, hosted at Fort Christian over the weekend, JP II and Fort Christian were playing against each other in the gold medal game when a player fell to the court with an apparent injury. 

Albert Stajuana, a player on JP II team, had seriously hurt his knee. 

Albert was sent to the Stollery Children's Hospital where doctors performed knee surgery before putting his leg in a brace. 

One Sherwood Park resident is doing their best to help people on the streets stay warm. 

Wendy Johnston started knitting scarved ten years ago in Vancouver while babysitting her grandchildren.

"I decided to try knitting again and figured a scarf would not require much skill," Johnston said. 

Over the years Johnston perfected her pattern, buying supplies from local shops. As she became more prolific with her scarf-making, she decided to start donating them to people in need. 

Alberta Health Services (AHS) experienced a province-wide outage that affected various different resources. 

Just after 9 a.m. on Monday (Jan. 23) morning AHS tweeted that they were facing an outage that limited access to their 8-1-1 Health Link service. 

The outage lasted all morning and early afternoon. At about 2:13 p.m. it was reported that the issue causing the outage was resolved. 

It was a very busy weekend for minor hockey teams around the region. 

Teams from Fort Saskatchewan, Sherwood Park, Strathcona County, and Sturgeon were all busy playing at the Quikcard Edmonton Minor Hockey Week 2023 tournament. In all, an incredible 53 divisions were played at the tourney, ranging from U11 to U18 teams. 

Local teams found a lot of success at the end of it, here's a look at all the weekend winners! 

Fort Saskatchewan: 

Fort Saskatchewan saw four teams take home medals over the weekend. 

Is there anything better than waking up in January to positive temperatures? 

Well, savour the warm temperatures while you can, because things will come crashing back down to reality in short order. 

Highs for the week start at 2 C on Monday (Jan. 23) and will slowly climb up to 5 C on Thursday as a result of warmer than usual system rolling through the prairies. 

Canadians across the country and people around the world kicked off the first day of Lunar New Year celebrations Sunday and welcomed the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit.

Here are five things to know about the annual tradition widely celebrated in Asian countries and expatriate communities around the world::

What is the Lunar New Year?

There was a scary moment at the Dow Centennial Centre (DCC) last weekend. 

On Saturday (Jan. 14) evening, a local men's hockey team was on the ice when one of the players collapsed on the ice. 

Lyle MacKinnon, who was playing in the game, had gone into cardiac arrest. 

"Lyle was just coming off for a shift change, he didn't get hit or anything, and he just collapsed on the ice," said Chris Moerman, a close friend of MacKinnon's who was there when it happened. "I had my back to him but I heard a couple of guys call out."