SACPA returns to in-person forums starting next week

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on September 3, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

For the first time since pandemic restrictions were instituted, the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs will be staging a live session when its weekly forums return on Sept. 8.

SACPA, formed in 1967, hosts meetings about 40 weeks of the year which address a wide range of issues – provincial, national and international – that may be of concern or interest to local residents.

Starting this month, all of SACPA’s events will be staged in a new home at the Lethbridge Seniors Citizens Organization located at 500 11 St. S.

Knud Petersen of SACPA says weekly programs will start at noon with a question-and-answer session at 12:30 p.m.

SACPA is asking guests to come around 11:15 and purchase their meals at the LSCO diner to eat in the atrium where sessions will be staged.

While each weekly event will be taped for broadcast on Shaw TV and YouTube, there will be no live airing on YouTube of forums with the return to live events.

“It’s been two-and-a-half years now” since SACPA went online, said Petersen.

“So we feel that if we’re ever going to go back, now is the time,” he said.

The opening session will focus on the subject of urban chickens with Gilles Leclair and Kelti Baird speaking. “Sustainability: is the time right for Lethbridge to allow urban chickens?” is the title of the presentation.

A preview on the SACPA website says a growing numbers of urban jurisdictions are allowing residents to have egg-laying chickens and hens and there are good reasons for that such as chickens “provide protein, great fertilizer, pest control and are easy to maintain.”

Petersen said the Sept. 15 edition will look at drug treament courts while the Sept. 22 event will examine healthcare in Alberta.

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