Helping others is contagious this time of year.
Bounty, good fortune, health – all of these factors lead people to think about how they can help others.
Along with local churches, numerous food banks and community services outlets are making it their mission to bring some merriment to residents that otherwise would have a sparse holiday season.
Managers interviewed by our reporter provided a list of items that are needed. So often we think of food, but there are items like soap and hygiene products that make a difference for patrons.
Behind the scenes numerous people from all walks of life donate their time. Preparing Christmas hampers, organizing goods to maximum effect and coordinating with local grocery store programs are efforts often taken for granted. Without good, honest people giving back to their community, the success of these programs would be hard to maintain.
Elsewhere in the volunteer realm, calls for drivers to help with transporting cancer patients to appointments or calls for donations to Christmas gift programs have been answered. There is always more help needed, so if this something you have always wondered about – make the call and get involved.
Numerous studies have proven over time that those who give or offer freely of their time gain great satisfaction. They are happier, feel healthier and foster social connections. Enjoying others and their company makes for a happy community.
Body cams turn on public
It seemed like the right thing to do.
The adoption of body cameras worn by officers shed light on their interactions with the public. Too many times, accounts of incidents were too far apart. Officers had a version, the public had a version – even bystanders had a version.
Again, it seemed like the right to do.
As speed cameras were unplugged, we recall making the point that privacy and surveillance were our primary concern. That outlook made for a big guffaw amongst local lawmakers. Some understood the point, others dismissed it as conspiracy minded, but generally we sensed a powerful sense of hubris. Our concern was of no concern, as it would never be used against the public.
Here we are, again.
Axon, the company that manufactures the technology for body cams had begun testing the use of facial recognition technology back in 2019. Board members at that time paused the project, stating the tech posed serious ethical concerns.
Flash forward to 2025 and the Edmonton Police Service has agreed to be a pilot project for a program that would recognize faces of “concern” within their database. Some 7,000 faces, mostly people flagged as a safety risk, have been entered into the system.
Historically this particular technology has had issues with skin-tones, but those concerns are being addressed with ongoing testing. Demographic bias and overall accuracy remain points of contention.
This led Alberta’s Information and Privacy Commissioner Diane McLeod to tell CTV News, “The impacts to the public are significant if we have mismatches: false positives, false negatives.
“This is policing. This is serious. This has real impact on people’s lives.”
It is high time politicians and policy makers get serious about protecting privacy. And please spare the public the tired response that big tech has already reduced human individuals to data points anyway. That sounds defeatist.
The capacity to think freely, associate freely and go about our lives freely is under fire.
