Inspiring perseverance are words that can be used to describe Drayton resident Deb Bossert. She has faced obstacles like cancer and immune disorders to start a successful second business in her retirement.
Bossert grew up in Vernon, B.C., but has been part of Drayton this community since 1996. Over the years she has volunteered in many different areas, all with the mission of serving others. Some may recognize her name from her time on town council, others in the faith community will know her from various events she’s participated in. During her time on council she served on many different boards. Bossert was also a volunteer with Humans Helping Humans and currently sits on the board of Burden Bearers.
On top of that Bossert was also a business owner in Drayton Valley. The store Designs By Deb was a bridal boutique that she built from the ground up.
“I’ve been sewing since I was a young girl,” says Bossert, which she says is 45 years of sewing. She is the fourth generation seamstress in her family, and her oldest daughter is the fifth.
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However, life has not been smooth sailing for Bossert. About a year after her youngest daughter was born, Bossert separated from her husband and became a single mother. During that time she sometimes worked a full-time job, but she kept Designs by Deb running.
Designs By Deb was more than just a store for bridal wear. Bossert also offered sewing classes, altered clothing, and spent a fair amount of time repairing coveralls.
In 2009, after hearing encouragement from friends and community members, Bossert decided to run in a by-election for council. She went on to serve as a councillor until 2017.
In 2010, Bossert was diagnosed with aggressive bilateral breast cancer, which led to a double mastectomy as soon as the doctors could arrange it. Four years later, Bossert was diagnosed with a rare immune disorder called common variable immune deficiency.
“I didn’t expect to see 50,” she says and she’s grateful for the eight years she’s had since her diagnosis. “To have survived long enough to meet my grandchildren, and be involved in their lives, and to see where life has taken me has been amazing.”
She did not seek re-election in the municipal elections in 2017. She still worked as much as she could, though she was limited because of her health. However, she lost her job as a teacher for English as Second Language in 2020 when the pandemic hit.
“My health did take quite a decline that spring as well. I was told by my doctors that I needed to retire and just stay home,” says Bossert.
Bossert rarely goes out because her body does not produce antibodies and she has to take an immunoglobulin infusion to keep herself healthy and alive. Any illness she catches could result in hospitalization or death.
After concerns raised at a pair of public meetings late last year, interim CAO for Drayton Valley, Pat Vincent, demonstrated the Town’s commitment to businesses and residents by presenting council with a detailed report that spoke to a range of issues at the last Governance and Priorities meeting.
Erik Bergen, a local business owner, came forward on November 20 with a presentation he had put together after having two open meetings with businesses in the community earlier in the fall. In his presentation, Bergen highlighted three main areas of concern: the homeless population, Town services and communications, and the free enterprise market in the community.
Bergen outlined several of those concerns as well as possible solutions for council to consider.
In the report Vincent brought forward, there were five separate responses from management involved in the areas that the businesses had issue with.
Enforcement services touched on several areas brought forth by Bergen. This included listing the various bylaws and acts that already addressed many of the areas of concern with the homeless population. The Community Standards Bylaw, the Municipal Government Act, and provincial trespassing legislation combined cover sleeping in public places, public disruption, loitering, public urination and defecation, unauthorized encampments, open fire, storage of personal items, and dumpster diving.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement services and emergency management, also outlined areas that the Town could consider to help bolster the current laws surrounding those issues, such as amendments to the Outdoor Restrictions Burning bylaw and some possible amendments to the Community Standards Bylaw.
Rossing also explained that Drayton Valley could not create its own lower level court system to deal with petty crimes. However, he did say the community could petition for more court dates in Drayton Valley, which would allow more time for the courts to deal with all matters.
“Currently, with the scheduling at the Drayton Valley Court of Justice, trial dates are occurring on the same days for criminal code matters, provincial matters and municipal bylaw matters,” he says in his report. “This often results in lower-level offences either being withdrawn, or deals made to have the lower-level items removed so time can be focused on criminal code matters.”
As far as public safety in regards to needles, Rossing says they received only one call in 2023 from a business owner. In the past six months the Town’s Occupational Health and Safety Department only had four reports of Town staff locating needles.
Lola Strand, the manager of community services for the Town, spoke to the number of homeless individuals in the community and the efforts made to address the issue.
She mentioned the 2023 study done by the Rural Development Network, that found there were more than 8,300 individuals in rural Alberta dealing with some sort of housing issue. In Drayton, there were 28 people without homes, 25 people accessing emergency shelters such as the shelter pods or warming hearts, 83 people who were provisionally accommodated through things like couch surfing, and 140 individuals who were at risk of homelessness due to precarious housing.
Strand spoke to the strain enforcement services were dealing with in regard to responding to complaints of unsheltered people. She says the Town received a grant to hire a Community Outreach Worker who is communicating with at-risk individuals to help connect them to resources.
She also pointed out that along with the temporary emergency shelters the Town has put into place, there are also 26 affordable housing units in the community. Humans Helping Humans, the local organization that currently runs the shelter pods, has also built nine homes with grants, donations, and volunteers that have helped 19 families move into the regular housing market.
Strand also suggested the Town could work with the province to build halfway houses, or using grant money to purchase seacans, or trailers that can provide shelters in the encampment around the landfill that many of the homeless population are currently using.
Jenn Stone with intergovernmental relations and communication for the Town, outlined the different ways that the Town communicates with its residents.
The Town has a threefold approach to communication: traditional media, social media, and direct communication.
With advertisements and news stories, the Town works with the Drayton Valley Free Press and Big West Country 92.9. They also have pages on social media, the Town’s website, and YouTube. The electronic sign located at 50 Street and 50 Avenue is also used for communications. On top of those methods, the Town has held open houses, public hearings, direct mail, and door-to-door notices.
By using these different options, the Town is providing several different methods of communication for all age demographics.
Public works also responded to the grievances in the report, specifically in regard to the insect population, weed control, and snow removal.
When it comes to pesticides and herbicides, the individual applying the substances has to be certified and trained in the use of the chemicals. If at any point the Town doesn’t have many employees that meet those criteria, it can be difficult for them to keep up with the applications.
When it comes to insects, the Town only sprays for stinging insects in public spaces. They work to stay on top of the issues and will follow up to check on activity. They also use the public portal the Town provides through their website, to learn about any issues that residents have raised a concern with.
Spraying for weeds also has its challenges. There are limited time frames in which the application will be effective, such as when the weeds are actively growing. Then they also have to work around the weather, as it won’t be as effective if it’s raining. If those two requirements are met, the Town also has to consider any events going on and provide notices to nearby businesses and residents before they begin spraying.
For snow removal on sidewalks, the Town currently clears 53.4 km of asphalt trails and sidewalks in the community. Prior to 2022, the Town was clearing sidewalks in the downtown core, however, an amendment to the snow removal policy in November 2022 removed the downtown core from areas to be cleared.
Public works says if they were to be responsible for removing snow from all sidewalks in the community, they would have to double their staff and equipment to keep up with it. They say it is a common issue with many municipalities and one that is becoming more and more challenging.
The report also addressed the business owners’ concerns surrounding a free market in the community.
Peter Vana, the interim general manager for planning and growth development in the community, says there are legal limits to what the Town can do in regards to limiting businesses.
Vana says the Municipal Government Act grants municipalities the power to regulate businesses, but not prohibit businesses. Vana provided examples of land use regulations in several communities to show the different ways that the issue can be approached.
Along with that, Vana made some suggestions that might help to alleviate the issue, such as making restaurants a discretionary use in all districts, providing varying business license fees, partnering with local businesses to help give them better strategies to succeed.
However, Vana also pointed out some issues with picking a particular sector to regulate. He says were the Town to put in regulations on franchises in the food industry, it should be applied to all industries across the board, including oil and gas, as well as retail, as companies like Walmart or Canadian Tire could be seen as a threat to local businesses.
Vana also mentions that many franchises are owned by local residents, so they are in many ways, just like other local businesses.
Other problems with restricting franchises that Vana brought forward included that the public would like to have competition as it offers options and keeps prices lower. He also pointed out, using pizza restaurants as an example, that there are eight restaurants that mainly sell pizza, nine other restaurants that sell pizza as a sideline, and two other businesses that occasionally sell pizza as well.
Vana questions whether or not the Town would have to be completely aware of the different items each restaurant sells when deciding whether a business should be allowed or not.
Council accepted the report as information after asking several questions of the departments. Vincent says he made the businesses aware the report was being discussed at the meeting, but there were no representatives for council to ask questions of.
Drayton Valley builds reserves
The Town of Drayton Valley is looking to the future as the municipality works toward having the utilities in the community be self-sustaining services.
Elvera Thomson, the general manager of corporate services for the Town, says in the past, the surpluses from the Town’s utility operations could be anywhere from $2-3 million. Those surpluses didn’t necessarily go into a fund specifically for water and sewer, but there was lots of money being put into reserves in general.
However, there wasn’t a policy that dictated that a certain amount of funds from the water and sewer revenues had to be put in reserves.
“What ended up happening as the years went on and things got tough, we had a series of events that happened with Covid, cost of living, inflation, and more,” says Thomson. “To manage tax increases, we just put less and less into reserves.”
Now, with the looming bill of repairing and replacing integral infrastructure in the community, the Town is putting a policy in place that will ensure the surplus from the utility services will be put into a reserve fund specifically for infrastructure maintenance and replacement.
“We just got to a point where none [of the surpluses] was going into reserves and we need to get back putting a large portion of those going into an internally restricted reserve for water and sewer,” says Thomson.
Those funds will go toward replacing the aging systems for water and sewer in the community. That way, the Town will not have to rely so heavily on debt funding or government grants for the projects.
While the Town was advised by Matt Delormes with the Atlantic Infrastructure Management Network that they need to put away as much as they can to help offset future costs. He told them that the ideal number would be $8 million, but understood that it wasn’t always possible to reach that number.
Thomson says they will not be able to put that amount of money away, but they are now taking conscious steps toward building their reserves.
She says there are many small towns across the country that are in similar situations, as aging infrastructure hasn’t been at the forefront of anyone’s minds until problems are starting to occur.
“It’s not just a municipal problem,” says Thomson. “It’s a provincial and federal problem as well.”
Thomson says that after World War II, there was an infrastructure boom across Canada, and many smaller communities were able to expand. This means that most of that infrastructure is coming due around the same time, and the municipalities are going to be looking toward the provincial and federal government to help with the costs of replacement.
Jordan’s Principle Grant funding delays are disrupting education in an Alberta schools
As of December 20, Wild Rose School Division will be laying off 46 Educational Assistants due to the division not receiving the Jordan’s Principle grant from the Federal Government.
Grant delay impact education assistant funding
Brad Volkman, the superintendent for WRSD, says in the past the funding has come through quickly and without any issues. The grant money is to be used to provide support and services to indigenous youth in the school division.
“Historically, these grants have been approved at the regional level, enabling us to offer critical services without interruption. Based on this expectation, we hired several additional Educational Assistants for the start of the 2024–2025 school year for the purpose of providing support to eligible First Nations students,” says a press release from WRSD.
Human rights tribunal couldn’t meet time demands
However, the Federal Government is currently backlogged when it comes to the grant. A Human Rights Tribunal was held to look into the funding, as it is supposed to be issued quickly as some requests for funds are urgent. They have since ordered the government to take action.
On December 10, 2024, Indigenous Services Canada responded in a report that it was not possible for them to meet the demands of the Tribunal.
Because there is no answer as to when the funding might come through, WRSD had to make the decision for layoffs as they had not budgeted for the positions outside of the grant.
The policy within WRSD is that when layoffs occur, those who are on probationary status, which is 120 days, are the first to be let go. There were 35 part-time and full-time EAs let go because of this policy. However, not all of them worked with Jordan’s Principle students.
One non-probationary EA was laid off, and the remaining ten were voluntary lay-offs, says Volkman.
“What happens is the probationary ones, due to collective agreement requirements, are laid off first, but then we can offer more tenured EAs those positions,” says Volkman.
He says the voluntary lay-offs were EAs working with Jordan’s Principle students who were offered positions with students who have more complex needs. Volkman says they declined the positions and had to be laid off.
“It’s not easy for them because in some cases the job they were offered would have been less hours or [perhaps] they would have been in a location that required them to drive a further distance,” says Volkman.
There are still 95 full-time EAs in the inclusive education department.
Drayton Valley Ski Hill Closes After 60 Years | Challenges with Weather, Insurance, and Volunteers
After 60 years of operation in the community, the Drayton Valley ski hill has closed its doors.
Weather, Insurance and Volunteers an issue
Randy Beckett, the president of the Drayton Valley Brazeau Snow Club, says there were three main factors that went into the decision to shut down: weather, insurance, and lack of volunteers.
The ski hill was built by volunteers and has been running with volunteers since then. Funding was partially provided by grants, fundraising, and rental and usage fees for the hill. These funds went toward bills like insurance and electricity. They were also used for the maintenance of the ski hill and the equipment. None of the volunteers were paid for their time.
When Beckett stepped into the role of president about eight years ago, the club was in debt and the equipment was in need of repair. A government grant of $17,000 and a massive fundraiser in the community gave them enough money to fix things up.
To round out their services, Beckett says they began to offer tubing. The club recognized that not everyone wanted to ski or were able to ski. Tubing was available to everyone and was less hard on the body. Each of the tubes was sponsored by a company, with the funds going toward the maintenance of the hill.
However, the lack of snow over the past few seasons has meant less use of the ski hill, and therefore less funds coming in.
“Unfortunately, Mother Nature has not been kind to us,” says Beckett.
In 2023, much of the local area didn’t have snow for Christmas. Beckett says the ski hill didn’t even open in the 2023/24 season.
“In my seven or eight years, we only opened three years because of snow,” says Beckett.
Insurance companies stepping away from offering coverage to ski hills
Then there was the issue with insurance. After a court case in B.C. where a customer sued a ski resort, many insurance companies stepped away from offering insurance to ski hills. Beckett says there are now only three underwriters in the world who will consider insuring a ski hill.
“Eleven of us little hills got our insurance canceled [a couple of] years ago,” says Beckett.
Previously, the Rural Municipalities of Alberta covered the insurance of the ski hill. When the insurance was cancelled through RMA, they had to find a new underwriter. The bill for the season was $24,000.
“Our insurance was $24,000 last year and we didn’t open,” says Beckett.
Finding volunteers to work the ski hill has also been a challenge.
“Everybody has so many different directions to go now in their lives,” he says. “They have just about everything except for time.”
On average, it took ten volunteers to run the ski hill each day. Beckett and his wife had a list of about 80 volunteers they could call on. However, there were times when they called all of those people and none of them were available to fill a shift for someone who had to cancel.
All three of those factors were at play when Beckett received a call from the insurance company in preparation for this season. They needed Beckett to go through everything on the property again, as they felt much of the equipment and the chalet were undervalued.
Beckett explained to them that it didn’t matter what the replacement value was for the chalet or the lift. If they failed or burned down, Beckett says the club would have to close.
With that in mind, he had put in a lower value for the chalet and other items as they would never be using the insurance to replace them. That was the only way they would be able to afford to run the ski hill. The insurance company explained that if he didn’t cover it for at least 90 percent of the replacement value they would get nothing.
“I said take the insurance off of it, I’ll take the risk,” he says.
Then the insurance company started going into details about the rental equipment, and how all of the people renting the bindings and skis had to be trained by the manufacturers in how to use them.
“What the real issue is, when it comes to insurance companies, is they do not like volunteer organizations in any way,” says Beckett. “Every one of these 11 hills that got their insurance cancelled, I believe, were volunteer organizations.”
Beckett says they feel that the volunteer organizations are unstable, as the volunteers can change regularly and with little notice.
The rental items for the ski hill will be auctioned off by Team Auctions on their December 7 sale. The property will be sold in the new year.
The Free Press asks – “What are your fondest memories of the Drayton Valley Ski Hill?”
“This fills me with nostalgia and gratitude! I started skiing at this hill at just two years old, and it ignited my love for skiing. My parents nurtured my passion by enrolling me in a ski program, and I spent countless weekends racing and growing. Our hill may not have been the biggest, but it was a place we were able to be kids at while not playing hockey or ringette. My dad and papa selflessly served as ski patrols for years, and we reveled in every moment we spent there. My papa’s dedication to the hill was remarkable as he had welded so many pieces there making it the hill it was today, and I’m deeply thankful for the volunteers who helped shape it into the haven it became. All three of my boys learned to ski on this hill, and I’m forever grateful for the escape and liberation it brought us.” – Leslie Anne Fraizer
“I learned to ski on the hill, my kids learned to ski on the hill. We’ve had many get-togethers on the hill with family and friends. As a volunteer I got to see so many littles learn to ski/snowboard and then advance to be on their own then onto the T-bar. They all get excited when they get to go on the big hill. I’ve spent many hours volunteering there as I was on the board for 20+ years and even when my kids weren’t skiing I was there.It was a great hill for many to learn on, it was in our backyard. When we decided to make the tube part it brought more families out which was great to see. It truly will be missed as I wanted my grandkids to learn how to ski/board this year on it.” – Georgia Frost
“Ooh, so many memories of the ski hill. But I would say the best was learning to snowboard there and getting courage to do the jumps off the hills … It was always fun since it was me and my sister. We had a blast, racing down getting to the bottom and the wind burnt faces ‘cause of it.” – Tricia Cottreau
“I was on the tow rope when a porcupine decided to cross… apparently the rope had enough give to allow the people to push a big loop in it. We were able to continue up the hill and the porcupine was able to continue on its walk about” – Helen Maine
“I have so many memories there as a teen in the mid 1980s… from trying to perfect the “daffy”, “backscratchers” and the “kusak” amongst learning how to telemark. This little hill with amazing volunteers taught a ton of youth some amazing skills while maintaining a very safe and supportive environment. I am a ski patrol today because of this little hill and the “gnarly” atmosphere back in the 80s that let youth hone their skills for the mountains.” – Jon Setterlund
“Watching my son Max snowboard for the first time! And he struggled with the T-bar but never gave up!” – Kathy Schwengler
“The time I knocked myself out cold. Couldn’t stop and hit a pole. That was my last time on skis. I now snowboard. I don’t think there’s any photos of that adventure…got a free sled ride behind the skidoo!!” – Jane Marie Ellis
“When Devon broke his arm, all the other kids that broke something and the fact that we all thought we had fresh pow days” – Gord Graham
“Donna and Val Palmer encouraged me to get my Level 1 ski instructor certification and teach ski lessons at the hill. I have so many memories of teaching kids and adults basic skills for skiing. My favourite memories include the Grade 5 visits and instructing a whole class on the tow rope hill. What a great introduction for those kids- who may have never been exposed to skiing.” – Astrid Mitchell
Drayton Valley Food Bank relies on generosity
With an increase in demand for the Drayton Valley Food Bank, volunteers are concerned the facility may not keep up for much longer.
Heather and Phil Bell, the vice president and treasurer respectively, have been with the Food Bank for several years. During that time they’ve noticed a concerning trend in the uptick of users.
So far this year, they have given out hampers to 2,275 people, a stark contrast to the 2023 number of 1,653. Last year was a record year for hampers and this year has blown it out of the water.
Alberta food bank sees increased demand
The Bells says a lot of the hampers are going to families who have parents that work.
“The Food Bank, I feel, is an essential service right now, considering the need,” says Phil. “It’s something that’s heavily relied on.”
If things continue the way they have been, they’re expecting to hand out 2,556 hampers by the end of the year.
“It’s not just a blip, either,” says Phil. “This is going to continue on.”
Phil says that though they’ve seen increased usage, the generosity of the community has continued to keep up with the demand. Between food donations from local stores and food drives, the food bank has already received around $270,000 of in-kind donations.
“We have such a generous community,” says Heather. “It’s amazing.”
Heather says they are grateful for the building they’re in and the Town’s generosity in letting them use it for free. She says the location is perfect because it allows people more privacy than a location in a busier part of the community.
“But we’re outgrowing the building,” says Heather. “We’re at the point with our freezer and fridge capacity that the building can’t take anymore fridges and freezers without upgrading the electrical system.”
Space is a challenge for Drayton Valley food bank
Fridge and freezer space are vital in the Christmas season. Heather says in the past, they’ve had to turn away donations of a side of beef because they don’t have the space. Some companies have set up freezers in their buildings and offered the extra storage. Some volunteers also store some items as well.
The Bells say a sea can or some other place where they could store dried goods would be extremely helpful, as well. As it is, they have to store enough food in their building for roughly 30 hampers each pick up day.
At the beginning of November, the volunteers changed their system, and now only offer hampers on Thursdays. Phil says one recent hamper day saw volunteers hand out 86 hampers in three hours.
Creating that many food hampers also has its challenges. There isn’t a lot of room to put the hampers together and organize them, though Heather says they’ve developed a good system. Volunteers are now prebuilding hampers with dried goods for different sizes of families. On pick up days, all they have to do is go to the fridge and freezer to top the hamper off, and it can go out the door.
Thanks to a grant from the Family and Community Support Services, the Food Bank now has a part-time employee that can help with a lot of the administrative tasks. However, some recent Standards of Excellence put forth by the Federal Government is putting pressure on them as well.
The Standards of Excellence requires all Food Banks to have certain policies and procedures in place if they want to continue to be registered with Food Banks Alberta and Food Banks Canada.
Heather says it’s a great idea in theory, but the 78 page document is a massive undertaking for a busy food bank run by volunteers. Their employee is working on some of the documents, but it’s still a challenge.
“A lot of them are great ideas, but for small food banks, it’s quite overwhelming to comply with that,” says Heather.
Originally, the food banks had until March 2025 to have everything in place, but after feedback, they’ve given the smaller food banks more time to work on it.
The Bells say there are many ways for the community to help out the food bank and they won’t turn down donations if they can help it. They have more volunteers who are going through the orientation and are grateful for the continuing generosity of the community.
Drayton Valley Launches Platform to Match Volunteers with Opportunities
Community members often perform their civic duties in a variety of ways; some vote, most pay their taxes, and some volunteer their time.
The initiative, This Is Drayton Valley (TIDV), is hoping to make it easier for residents to find ways they can volunteer in their community. They’ve launched an online platform, www.lets-volunteer.com, that helps connect organizations to residents who are looking for a place to volunteer their time.
Jessica Doucette, the chair of the Healthy Community Coalition, says the idea for the platform first began when the HCC were brainstorming ways to offer programs for the clients in the Youth Hub. The biggest obstacle was finding volunteers to help out with the programs.
“We came up with this idea about creating an online platform that would make it easier for people to access volunteer opportunities,” says Doucette.
She says at that time, they were mostly considering the Youth Hub and looking for younger volunteers. They felt that an online platform would be the best way to reach out to that demographic.
When Kickstand Alberta became the parent organization of the Youth Hub, they found more challenges. As they were a newer provincial body, they weren’t ready to take on the project for all of their Youth Hubs. Doucette says rather than scrap the idea, they decided to offer it to the larger community.
“We realized it was actually an issue for everybody,” she says.
Originally, they had approached the Chamber of Commerce, who had already tried to make a similar platform. But as the HCC works under the Red Cross, they were told it wasn’t appropriate for them to work with an organization that only represented businesses. They continued to look and finally connected with Ryan Fynn, one of the founders of TIDV, to bring the idea to life.
The platform has been active for a couple of weeks, now, and as of November 22, there were 14 volunteers and 12 organizations on the site.
Fynn says the platform is similar to dating websites, in that the volunteers input information into a profile and then they can be matched with an organization that would best suit them. He says volunteers are encouraged to list things they are passionate about, their relevant skills, experience as a volunteer, how much time they want to commit, and which days they are open to help. Organizations can search for volunteers based on those parameters.
“For an example, River Valley Players is looking for a part-time musical director,” says Fynn. “If a volunteer says they are passionate about music, they will be connected to them.”
Doucette says the platform can also help people connect with someone with specific skills. “We just recently did a survey through the community parenting coalition, and we found that there’s a large majority of people that are willing to share their gifts with others,” says Doucette. “We just don’t ask the right questions.”
Fynn says it would also work well for finding volunteers for events. By listing their events and indicating what’s all involved in the positions, residents with profiles can find them and help out.
“I don’t like to dwell on the limitations of my medical condition. I’ve learned to be very content and very happy at home,” she says.
When the pandemic broke out, Bossert hardly left the house. Determined not to give in to the loneliness and depression that can come with long-term self-isolation, Bossert turned to painting and calligraphy as an outlet.
Bossert says in many ways she’s reinvented herself over the years. “From administrator to town councillor to teacher and to script and copy editor and calligrapher and artist, and now I’ve come back to my sewing.”
She says she was surprised to realize she had any talent as an artist, because she had never done it efore. By selling the water colour cards she was making, Bossert was able to bring in a little money, but nothing major.
It wasn’t until one of her friends, who became a partner in her new business venture, requested a favour from Bossert that she was able to bring in full-time income.
In mid-October 2021, Bossert’s friend came to her with a request for a riding skirt. Her friend had one, but wanted another, and Bossert was happy to help. She first made a prototype to ensure she got it right, and then she built her friend’s skirt.
At the Home Expo at the MacKenzie Centre in late November, Bossert displayed the skirts she had made. From there her business has exploded.
“It just went crazy from there. Within the first month we had 26 orders,” says Bossert.
Since December, when Bossert first started pursuing this new niche market of historical equestrian wear, she has had almost 60 orders. These have been delivered to 14 states in America, and one was purchased by someone from Switzerland via a sibling in Canada.
“Only about ten percent of my clients are from Alberta,” she says.
She says word has spread through social media, and she hasn’t had to do any advertising. If she posts a picture of a new product, she says she gets even more orders. To allow her to catch up, Bossert says she’s been radio silent on social media for a couple of weeks.
“As soon as I launch stuff, then boom, I get even more orders,” says Bossert.
While the business is a success, it’s been a lot of work in a short period of time. After 30 years, she has decided to retire Designs By Deb, and has now rebranded her business as The Creative Daughter. This has meant ordering new signs, creating a logo, new labels for her products, and finding the space to make it all happen.
After concerns raised at a pair of public meetings late last year, interim CAO for Drayton Valley, Pat Vincent, demonstrated the Town’s commitment to businesses and residents by presenting council with a detailed report that spoke to a range of issues at the last Governance and Priorities meeting.
Erik Bergen, a local business owner, came forward on November 20 with a presentation he had put together after having two open meetings with businesses in the community earlier in the fall. In his presentation, Bergen highlighted three main areas of concern: the homeless population, Town services and communications, and the free enterprise market in the community.
Bergen outlined several of those concerns as well as possible solutions for council to consider.
In the report Vincent brought forward, there were five separate responses from management involved in the areas that the businesses had issue with.
Enforcement services touched on several areas brought forth by Bergen. This included listing the various bylaws and acts that already addressed many of the areas of concern with the homeless population. The Community Standards Bylaw, the Municipal Government Act, and provincial trespassing legislation combined cover sleeping in public places, public disruption, loitering, public urination and defecation, unauthorized encampments, open fire, storage of personal items, and dumpster diving.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement services and emergency management, also outlined areas that the Town could consider to help bolster the current laws surrounding those issues, such as amendments to the Outdoor Restrictions Burning bylaw and some possible amendments to the Community Standards Bylaw.
Rossing also explained that Drayton Valley could not create its own lower level court system to deal with petty crimes. However, he did say the community could petition for more court dates in Drayton Valley, which would allow more time for the courts to deal with all matters.
“Currently, with the scheduling at the Drayton Valley Court of Justice, trial dates are occurring on the same days for criminal code matters, provincial matters and municipal bylaw matters,” he says in his report. “This often results in lower-level offences either being withdrawn, or deals made to have the lower-level items removed so time can be focused on criminal code matters.”
As far as public safety in regards to needles, Rossing says they received only one call in 2023 from a business owner. In the past six months the Town’s Occupational Health and Safety Department only had four reports of Town staff locating needles.
Lola Strand, the manager of community services for the Town, spoke to the number of homeless individuals in the community and the efforts made to address the issue.
She mentioned the 2023 study done by the Rural Development Network, that found there were more than 8,300 individuals in rural Alberta dealing with some sort of housing issue. In Drayton, there were 28 people without homes, 25 people accessing emergency shelters such as the shelter pods or warming hearts, 83 people who were provisionally accommodated through things like couch surfing, and 140 individuals who were at risk of homelessness due to precarious housing.
Strand spoke to the strain enforcement services were dealing with in regard to responding to complaints of unsheltered people. She says the Town received a grant to hire a Community Outreach Worker who is communicating with at-risk individuals to help connect them to resources.
She also pointed out that along with the temporary emergency shelters the Town has put into place, there are also 26 affordable housing units in the community. Humans Helping Humans, the local organization that currently runs the shelter pods, has also built nine homes with grants, donations, and volunteers that have helped 19 families move into the regular housing market.
Strand also suggested the Town could work with the province to build halfway houses, or using grant money to purchase seacans, or trailers that can provide shelters in the encampment around the landfill that many of the homeless population are currently using.
Jenn Stone with intergovernmental relations and communication for the Town, outlined the different ways that the Town communicates with its residents.
The Town has a threefold approach to communication: traditional media, social media, and direct communication.
With advertisements and news stories, the Town works with the Drayton Valley Free Press and Big West Country 92.9. They also have pages on social media, the Town’s website, and YouTube. The electronic sign located at 50 Street and 50 Avenue is also used for communications. On top of those methods, the Town has held open houses, public hearings, direct mail, and door-to-door notices.
By using these different options, the Town is providing several different methods of communication for all age demographics.
Public works also responded to the grievances in the report, specifically in regard to the insect population, weed control, and snow removal.
When it comes to pesticides and herbicides, the individual applying the substances has to be certified and trained in the use of the chemicals. If at any point the Town doesn’t have many employees that meet those criteria, it can be difficult for them to keep up with the applications.
When it comes to insects, the Town only sprays for stinging insects in public spaces. They work to stay on top of the issues and will follow up to check on activity. They also use the public portal the Town provides through their website, to learn about any issues that residents have raised a concern with.
Spraying for weeds also has its challenges. There are limited time frames in which the application will be effective, such as when the weeds are actively growing. Then they also have to work around the weather, as it won’t be as effective if it’s raining. If those two requirements are met, the Town also has to consider any events going on and provide notices to nearby businesses and residents before they begin spraying.
For snow removal on sidewalks, the Town currently clears 53.4 km of asphalt trails and sidewalks in the community. Prior to 2022, the Town was clearing sidewalks in the downtown core, however, an amendment to the snow removal policy in November 2022 removed the downtown core from areas to be cleared.
Public works says if they were to be responsible for removing snow from all sidewalks in the community, they would have to double their staff and equipment to keep up with it. They say it is a common issue with many municipalities and one that is becoming more and more challenging.
The report also addressed the business owners’ concerns surrounding a free market in the community.
Peter Vana, the interim general manager for planning and growth development in the community, says there are legal limits to what the Town can do in regards to limiting businesses.
Vana says the Municipal Government Act grants municipalities the power to regulate businesses, but not prohibit businesses. Vana provided examples of land use regulations in several communities to show the different ways that the issue can be approached.
Along with that, Vana made some suggestions that might help to alleviate the issue, such as making restaurants a discretionary use in all districts, providing varying business license fees, partnering with local businesses to help give them better strategies to succeed.
However, Vana also pointed out some issues with picking a particular sector to regulate. He says were the Town to put in regulations on franchises in the food industry, it should be applied to all industries across the board, including oil and gas, as well as retail, as companies like Walmart or Canadian Tire could be seen as a threat to local businesses.
Vana also mentions that many franchises are owned by local residents, so they are in many ways, just like other local businesses.
Other problems with restricting franchises that Vana brought forward included that the public would like to have competition as it offers options and keeps prices lower. He also pointed out, using pizza restaurants as an example, that there are eight restaurants that mainly sell pizza, nine other restaurants that sell pizza as a sideline, and two other businesses that occasionally sell pizza as well.
Vana questions whether or not the Town would have to be completely aware of the different items each restaurant sells when deciding whether a business should be allowed or not.
Council accepted the report as information after asking several questions of the departments. Vincent says he made the businesses aware the report was being discussed at the meeting, but there were no representatives for council to ask questions of.
The Town of Drayton Valley is looking to the future as the municipality works toward having the utilities in the community be self-sustaining services.
Elvera Thomson, the general manager of corporate services for the Town, says in the past, the surpluses from the Town’s utility operations could be anywhere from $2-3 million. Those surpluses didn’t necessarily go into a fund specifically for water and sewer, but there was lots of money being put into reserves in general.
However, there wasn’t a policy that dictated that a certain amount of funds from the water and sewer revenues had to be put in reserves.
“What ended up happening as the years went on and things got tough, we had a series of events that happened with Covid, cost of living, inflation, and more,” says Thomson. “To manage tax increases, we just put less and less into reserves.”
Now, with the looming bill of repairing and replacing integral infrastructure in the community, the Town is putting a policy in place that will ensure the surplus from the utility services will be put into a reserve fund specifically for infrastructure maintenance and replacement.
“We just got to a point where none [of the surpluses] was going into reserves and we need to get back putting a large portion of those going into an internally restricted reserve for water and sewer,” says Thomson.
Those funds will go toward replacing the aging systems for water and sewer in the community. That way, the Town will not have to rely so heavily on debt funding or government grants for the projects.
While the Town was advised by Matt Delormes with the Atlantic Infrastructure Management Network that they need to put away as much as they can to help offset future costs. He told them that the ideal number would be $8 million, but understood that it wasn’t always possible to reach that number.
Thomson says they will not be able to put that amount of money away, but they are now taking conscious steps toward building their reserves.
She says there are many small towns across the country that are in similar situations, as aging infrastructure hasn’t been at the forefront of anyone’s minds until problems are starting to occur.
“It’s not just a municipal problem,” says Thomson. “It’s a provincial and federal problem as well.”
Thomson says that after World War II, there was an infrastructure boom across Canada, and many smaller communities were able to expand. This means that most of that infrastructure is coming due around the same time, and the municipalities are going to be looking toward the provincial and federal government to help with the costs of replacement.
As of December 20, Wild Rose School Division will be laying off 46 Educational Assistants due to the division not receiving the Jordan’s Principle grant from the Federal Government.
Grant delay impact education assistant funding
Brad Volkman, the superintendent for WRSD, says in the past the funding has come through quickly and without any issues. The grant money is to be used to provide support and services to indigenous youth in the school division.
“Historically, these grants have been approved at the regional level, enabling us to offer critical services without interruption. Based on this expectation, we hired several additional Educational Assistants for the start of the 2024–2025 school year for the purpose of providing support to eligible First Nations students,” says a press release from WRSD.
Human rights tribunal couldn’t meet time demands
However, the Federal Government is currently backlogged when it comes to the grant. A Human Rights Tribunal was held to look into the funding, as it is supposed to be issued quickly as some requests for funds are urgent. They have since ordered the government to take action.
On December 10, 2024, Indigenous Services Canada responded in a report that it was not possible for them to meet the demands of the Tribunal.
Because there is no answer as to when the funding might come through, WRSD had to make the decision for layoffs as they had not budgeted for the positions outside of the grant.
The policy within WRSD is that when layoffs occur, those who are on probationary status, which is 120 days, are the first to be let go. There were 35 part-time and full-time EAs let go because of this policy. However, not all of them worked with Jordan’s Principle students.
One non-probationary EA was laid off, and the remaining ten were voluntary lay-offs, says Volkman.
“What happens is the probationary ones, due to collective agreement requirements, are laid off first, but then we can offer more tenured EAs those positions,” says Volkman.
He says the voluntary lay-offs were EAs working with Jordan’s Principle students who were offered positions with students who have more complex needs. Volkman says they declined the positions and had to be laid off.
“It’s not easy for them because in some cases the job they were offered would have been less hours or [perhaps] they would have been in a location that required them to drive a further distance,” says Volkman.
There are still 95 full-time EAs in the inclusive education department.
After 60 years of operation in the community, the Drayton Valley ski hill has closed its doors.
Weather, Insurance and Volunteers an issue
Randy Beckett, the president of the Drayton Valley Brazeau Snow Club, says there were three main factors that went into the decision to shut down: weather, insurance, and lack of volunteers.
The ski hill was built by volunteers and has been running with volunteers since then. Funding was partially provided by grants, fundraising, and rental and usage fees for the hill. These funds went toward bills like insurance and electricity. They were also used for the maintenance of the ski hill and the equipment. None of the volunteers were paid for their time.
When Beckett stepped into the role of president about eight years ago, the club was in debt and the equipment was in need of repair. A government grant of $17,000 and a massive fundraiser in the community gave them enough money to fix things up.
To round out their services, Beckett says they began to offer tubing. The club recognized that not everyone wanted to ski or were able to ski. Tubing was available to everyone and was less hard on the body. Each of the tubes was sponsored by a company, with the funds going toward the maintenance of the hill.
However, the lack of snow over the past few seasons has meant less use of the ski hill, and therefore less funds coming in.
“Unfortunately, Mother Nature has not been kind to us,” says Beckett.
In 2023, much of the local area didn’t have snow for Christmas. Beckett says the ski hill didn’t even open in the 2023/24 season.
“In my seven or eight years, we only opened three years because of snow,” says Beckett.
Insurance companies stepping away from offering coverage to ski hills
Then there was the issue with insurance. After a court case in B.C. where a customer sued a ski resort, many insurance companies stepped away from offering insurance to ski hills. Beckett says there are now only three underwriters in the world who will consider insuring a ski hill.
“Eleven of us little hills got our insurance canceled [a couple of] years ago,” says Beckett.
Previously, the Rural Municipalities of Alberta covered the insurance of the ski hill. When the insurance was cancelled through RMA, they had to find a new underwriter. The bill for the season was $24,000.
“Our insurance was $24,000 last year and we didn’t open,” says Beckett.
Finding volunteers to work the ski hill has also been a challenge.
“Everybody has so many different directions to go now in their lives,” he says. “They have just about everything except for time.”
On average, it took ten volunteers to run the ski hill each day. Beckett and his wife had a list of about 80 volunteers they could call on. However, there were times when they called all of those people and none of them were available to fill a shift for someone who had to cancel.
All three of those factors were at play when Beckett received a call from the insurance company in preparation for this season. They needed Beckett to go through everything on the property again, as they felt much of the equipment and the chalet were undervalued.
Beckett explained to them that it didn’t matter what the replacement value was for the chalet or the lift. If they failed or burned down, Beckett says the club would have to close.
With that in mind, he had put in a lower value for the chalet and other items as they would never be using the insurance to replace them. That was the only way they would be able to afford to run the ski hill. The insurance company explained that if he didn’t cover it for at least 90 percent of the replacement value they would get nothing.
“I said take the insurance off of it, I’ll take the risk,” he says.
Then the insurance company started going into details about the rental equipment, and how all of the people renting the bindings and skis had to be trained by the manufacturers in how to use them.
“What the real issue is, when it comes to insurance companies, is they do not like volunteer organizations in any way,” says Beckett. “Every one of these 11 hills that got their insurance cancelled, I believe, were volunteer organizations.”
Beckett says they feel that the volunteer organizations are unstable, as the volunteers can change regularly and with little notice.
The rental items for the ski hill will be auctioned off by Team Auctions on their December 7 sale. The property will be sold in the new year.
The Free Press asks – “What are your fondest memories of the Drayton Valley Ski Hill?”
“This fills me with nostalgia and gratitude! I started skiing at this hill at just two years old, and it ignited my love for skiing. My parents nurtured my passion by enrolling me in a ski program, and I spent countless weekends racing and growing. Our hill may not have been the biggest, but it was a place we were able to be kids at while not playing hockey or ringette. My dad and papa selflessly served as ski patrols for years, and we reveled in every moment we spent there. My papa’s dedication to the hill was remarkable as he had welded so many pieces there making it the hill it was today, and I’m deeply thankful for the volunteers who helped shape it into the haven it became. All three of my boys learned to ski on this hill, and I’m forever grateful for the escape and liberation it brought us.” – Leslie Anne Fraizer
“I learned to ski on the hill, my kids learned to ski on the hill. We’ve had many get-togethers on the hill with family and friends. As a volunteer I got to see so many littles learn to ski/snowboard and then advance to be on their own then onto the T-bar. They all get excited when they get to go on the big hill. I’ve spent many hours volunteering there as I was on the board for 20+ years and even when my kids weren’t skiing I was there.It was a great hill for many to learn on, it was in our backyard. When we decided to make the tube part it brought more families out which was great to see. It truly will be missed as I wanted my grandkids to learn how to ski/board this year on it.” – Georgia Frost
“Ooh, so many memories of the ski hill. But I would say the best was learning to snowboard there and getting courage to do the jumps off the hills … It was always fun since it was me and my sister. We had a blast, racing down getting to the bottom and the wind burnt faces ‘cause of it.” – Tricia Cottreau
“I was on the tow rope when a porcupine decided to cross… apparently the rope had enough give to allow the people to push a big loop in it. We were able to continue up the hill and the porcupine was able to continue on its walk about” – Helen Maine
“I have so many memories there as a teen in the mid 1980s… from trying to perfect the “daffy”, “backscratchers” and the “kusak” amongst learning how to telemark. This little hill with amazing volunteers taught a ton of youth some amazing skills while maintaining a very safe and supportive environment. I am a ski patrol today because of this little hill and the “gnarly” atmosphere back in the 80s that let youth hone their skills for the mountains.” – Jon Setterlund
“Watching my son Max snowboard for the first time! And he struggled with the T-bar but never gave up!” – Kathy Schwengler
“The time I knocked myself out cold. Couldn’t stop and hit a pole. That was my last time on skis. I now snowboard. I don’t think there’s any photos of that adventure…got a free sled ride behind the skidoo!!” – Jane Marie Ellis
“When Devon broke his arm, all the other kids that broke something and the fact that we all thought we had fresh pow days” – Gord Graham
“Donna and Val Palmer encouraged me to get my Level 1 ski instructor certification and teach ski lessons at the hill. I have so many memories of teaching kids and adults basic skills for skiing. My favourite memories include the Grade 5 visits and instructing a whole class on the tow rope hill. What a great introduction for those kids- who may have never been exposed to skiing.” – Astrid Mitchell
With an increase in demand for the Drayton Valley Food Bank, volunteers are concerned the facility may not keep up for much longer.
Heather and Phil Bell, the vice president and treasurer respectively, have been with the Food Bank for several years. During that time they’ve noticed a concerning trend in the uptick of users.
So far this year, they have given out hampers to 2,275 people, a stark contrast to the 2023 number of 1,653. Last year was a record year for hampers and this year has blown it out of the water.
Alberta food bank sees increased demand
The Bells says a lot of the hampers are going to families who have parents that work.
“The Food Bank, I feel, is an essential service right now, considering the need,” says Phil. “It’s something that’s heavily relied on.”
If things continue the way they have been, they’re expecting to hand out 2,556 hampers by the end of the year.
“It’s not just a blip, either,” says Phil. “This is going to continue on.”
Phil says that though they’ve seen increased usage, the generosity of the community has continued to keep up with the demand. Between food donations from local stores and food drives, the food bank has already received around $270,000 of in-kind donations.
“We have such a generous community,” says Heather. “It’s amazing.”
Heather says they are grateful for the building they’re in and the Town’s generosity in letting them use it for free. She says the location is perfect because it allows people more privacy than a location in a busier part of the community.
“But we’re outgrowing the building,” says Heather. “We’re at the point with our freezer and fridge capacity that the building can’t take anymore fridges and freezers without upgrading the electrical system.”
Space is a challenge for Drayton Valley food bank
Fridge and freezer space are vital in the Christmas season. Heather says in the past, they’ve had to turn away donations of a side of beef because they don’t have the space. Some companies have set up freezers in their buildings and offered the extra storage. Some volunteers also store some items as well.
The Bells say a sea can or some other place where they could store dried goods would be extremely helpful, as well. As it is, they have to store enough food in their building for roughly 30 hampers each pick up day.
At the beginning of November, the volunteers changed their system, and now only offer hampers on Thursdays. Phil says one recent hamper day saw volunteers hand out 86 hampers in three hours.
Creating that many food hampers also has its challenges. There isn’t a lot of room to put the hampers together and organize them, though Heather says they’ve developed a good system. Volunteers are now prebuilding hampers with dried goods for different sizes of families. On pick up days, all they have to do is go to the fridge and freezer to top the hamper off, and it can go out the door.
Thanks to a grant from the Family and Community Support Services, the Food Bank now has a part-time employee that can help with a lot of the administrative tasks. However, some recent Standards of Excellence put forth by the Federal Government is putting pressure on them as well.
The Standards of Excellence requires all Food Banks to have certain policies and procedures in place if they want to continue to be registered with Food Banks Alberta and Food Banks Canada.
Heather says it’s a great idea in theory, but the 78 page document is a massive undertaking for a busy food bank run by volunteers. Their employee is working on some of the documents, but it’s still a challenge.
“A lot of them are great ideas, but for small food banks, it’s quite overwhelming to comply with that,” says Heather.
Originally, the food banks had until March 2025 to have everything in place, but after feedback, they’ve given the smaller food banks more time to work on it.
The Bells say there are many ways for the community to help out the food bank and they won’t turn down donations if they can help it. They have more volunteers who are going through the orientation and are grateful for the continuing generosity of the community.
Community members often perform their civic duties in a variety of ways; some vote, most pay their taxes, and some volunteer their time.
The initiative, This Is Drayton Valley (TIDV), is hoping to make it easier for residents to find ways they can volunteer in their community. They’ve launched an online platform, www.lets-volunteer.com, that helps connect organizations to residents who are looking for a place to volunteer their time.
Jessica Doucette, the chair of the Healthy Community Coalition, says the idea for the platform first began when the HCC were brainstorming ways to offer programs for the clients in the Youth Hub. The biggest obstacle was finding volunteers to help out with the programs.
“We came up with this idea about creating an online platform that would make it easier for people to access volunteer opportunities,” says Doucette.
She says at that time, they were mostly considering the Youth Hub and looking for younger volunteers. They felt that an online platform would be the best way to reach out to that demographic.
When Kickstand Alberta became the parent organization of the Youth Hub, they found more challenges. As they were a newer provincial body, they weren’t ready to take on the project for all of their Youth Hubs. Doucette says rather than scrap the idea, they decided to offer it to the larger community.
“We realized it was actually an issue for everybody,” she says.
Originally, they had approached the Chamber of Commerce, who had already tried to make a similar platform. But as the HCC works under the Red Cross, they were told it wasn’t appropriate for them to work with an organization that only represented businesses. They continued to look and finally connected with Ryan Fynn, one of the founders of TIDV, to bring the idea to life.
The platform has been active for a couple of weeks, now, and as of November 22, there were 14 volunteers and 12 organizations on the site.
Fynn says the platform is similar to dating websites, in that the volunteers input information into a profile and then they can be matched with an organization that would best suit them. He says volunteers are encouraged to list things they are passionate about, their relevant skills, experience as a volunteer, how much time they want to commit, and which days they are open to help. Organizations can search for volunteers based on those parameters.
“For an example, River Valley Players is looking for a part-time musical director,” says Fynn. “If a volunteer says they are passionate about music, they will be connected to them.”
Doucette says the platform can also help people connect with someone with specific skills. “We just recently did a survey through the community parenting coalition, and we found that there’s a large majority of people that are willing to share their gifts with others,” says Doucette. “We just don’t ask the right questions.”
Fynn says it would also work well for finding volunteers for events. By listing their events and indicating what’s all involved in the positions, residents with profiles can find them and help out.
During this time, Bossert has also been down with Covid and another illness, which meant she was unable to work for three weeks.
“These last three months have been an amazing journey,” she says.
Bossert is once again sewing full-time and has been able to hire a part-time employee to help her keep up with her orders. Because she can’t leave her house due to her disability, Bossert says she needs to be careful about how many orders she takes on because she only has so much space.
Her spare room is currently her new studio, and she converted her sunroom into an office/spare room. She has a fitting mirror in her living area, and her dining room table is often used for cutting patterns.
She says when she was first building the skirt for her friend, and displaying it at the Expo, she didn’t expect it to really go anywhere. Her business partner, however, knew it would be a roaring success.
Bossert and her partner have stepped into a niche market for equestrian wear. Many of her competitors don’t offer wool skirts with patterns on them. Everything is one colour. Bossert, on the other hand, offers several different patterns of material for her products.
All of her products are reversible. They are wool on the outside, but if a person is out in rainy weather, they can turn the skirt around and expose the nylon lining. The lining allows water to roll right off it. One client even requested some reflective wear on the inside, so Bossert made a skirt with reflective fabric.
“Some of my clients told me they have been looking for a skirt like this for four years,” says Bossert.
One of the perks her clients enjoy with Bossert is all of the items are custom made. This means Bossert can make clothing for any size of person.
She says her business doesn’t just focus on attire for people who are trail riding. Bossert also makes clothing for hunters, mounted archers, and carriage drivers. “Some of it is really specific stuff, so I enjoy it,” she says.
Her daughter, Michelle, used to be a costumer, but has now followed in her mother’s footsteps and designs bridal wear. Bossert now considers herself mainly a costumer. “We’ve kind of switched places,” she says.
After concerns raised at a pair of public meetings late last year, interim CAO for Drayton Valley, Pat Vincent, demonstrated the Town’s commitment to businesses and residents by presenting council with a detailed report that spoke to a range of issues at the last Governance and Priorities meeting.
Erik Bergen, a local business owner, came forward on November 20 with a presentation he had put together after having two open meetings with businesses in the community earlier in the fall. In his presentation, Bergen highlighted three main areas of concern: the homeless population, Town services and communications, and the free enterprise market in the community.
Bergen outlined several of those concerns as well as possible solutions for council to consider.
In the report Vincent brought forward, there were five separate responses from management involved in the areas that the businesses had issue with.
Enforcement services touched on several areas brought forth by Bergen. This included listing the various bylaws and acts that already addressed many of the areas of concern with the homeless population. The Community Standards Bylaw, the Municipal Government Act, and provincial trespassing legislation combined cover sleeping in public places, public disruption, loitering, public urination and defecation, unauthorized encampments, open fire, storage of personal items, and dumpster diving.
Cody Rossing, the manager of enforcement services and emergency management, also outlined areas that the Town could consider to help bolster the current laws surrounding those issues, such as amendments to the Outdoor Restrictions Burning bylaw and some possible amendments to the Community Standards Bylaw.
Rossing also explained that Drayton Valley could not create its own lower level court system to deal with petty crimes. However, he did say the community could petition for more court dates in Drayton Valley, which would allow more time for the courts to deal with all matters.
“Currently, with the scheduling at the Drayton Valley Court of Justice, trial dates are occurring on the same days for criminal code matters, provincial matters and municipal bylaw matters,” he says in his report. “This often results in lower-level offences either being withdrawn, or deals made to have the lower-level items removed so time can be focused on criminal code matters.”
As far as public safety in regards to needles, Rossing says they received only one call in 2023 from a business owner. In the past six months the Town’s Occupational Health and Safety Department only had four reports of Town staff locating needles.
Lola Strand, the manager of community services for the Town, spoke to the number of homeless individuals in the community and the efforts made to address the issue.
She mentioned the 2023 study done by the Rural Development Network, that found there were more than 8,300 individuals in rural Alberta dealing with some sort of housing issue. In Drayton, there were 28 people without homes, 25 people accessing emergency shelters such as the shelter pods or warming hearts, 83 people who were provisionally accommodated through things like couch surfing, and 140 individuals who were at risk of homelessness due to precarious housing.
Strand spoke to the strain enforcement services were dealing with in regard to responding to complaints of unsheltered people. She says the Town received a grant to hire a Community Outreach Worker who is communicating with at-risk individuals to help connect them to resources.
She also pointed out that along with the temporary emergency shelters the Town has put into place, there are also 26 affordable housing units in the community. Humans Helping Humans, the local organization that currently runs the shelter pods, has also built nine homes with grants, donations, and volunteers that have helped 19 families move into the regular housing market.
Strand also suggested the Town could work with the province to build halfway houses, or using grant money to purchase seacans, or trailers that can provide shelters in the encampment around the landfill that many of the homeless population are currently using.
Jenn Stone with intergovernmental relations and communication for the Town, outlined the different ways that the Town communicates with its residents.
The Town has a threefold approach to communication: traditional media, social media, and direct communication.
With advertisements and news stories, the Town works with the Drayton Valley Free Press and Big West Country 92.9. They also have pages on social media, the Town’s website, and YouTube. The electronic sign located at 50 Street and 50 Avenue is also used for communications. On top of those methods, the Town has held open houses, public hearings, direct mail, and door-to-door notices.
By using these different options, the Town is providing several different methods of communication for all age demographics.
Public works also responded to the grievances in the report, specifically in regard to the insect population, weed control, and snow removal.
When it comes to pesticides and herbicides, the individual applying the substances has to be certified and trained in the use of the chemicals. If at any point the Town doesn’t have many employees that meet those criteria, it can be difficult for them to keep up with the applications.
When it comes to insects, the Town only sprays for stinging insects in public spaces. They work to stay on top of the issues and will follow up to check on activity. They also use the public portal the Town provides through their website, to learn about any issues that residents have raised a concern with.
Spraying for weeds also has its challenges. There are limited time frames in which the application will be effective, such as when the weeds are actively growing. Then they also have to work around the weather, as it won’t be as effective if it’s raining. If those two requirements are met, the Town also has to consider any events going on and provide notices to nearby businesses and residents before they begin spraying.
For snow removal on sidewalks, the Town currently clears 53.4 km of asphalt trails and sidewalks in the community. Prior to 2022, the Town was clearing sidewalks in the downtown core, however, an amendment to the snow removal policy in November 2022 removed the downtown core from areas to be cleared.
Public works says if they were to be responsible for removing snow from all sidewalks in the community, they would have to double their staff and equipment to keep up with it. They say it is a common issue with many municipalities and one that is becoming more and more challenging.
The report also addressed the business owners’ concerns surrounding a free market in the community.
Peter Vana, the interim general manager for planning and growth development in the community, says there are legal limits to what the Town can do in regards to limiting businesses.
Vana says the Municipal Government Act grants municipalities the power to regulate businesses, but not prohibit businesses. Vana provided examples of land use regulations in several communities to show the different ways that the issue can be approached.
Along with that, Vana made some suggestions that might help to alleviate the issue, such as making restaurants a discretionary use in all districts, providing varying business license fees, partnering with local businesses to help give them better strategies to succeed.
However, Vana also pointed out some issues with picking a particular sector to regulate. He says were the Town to put in regulations on franchises in the food industry, it should be applied to all industries across the board, including oil and gas, as well as retail, as companies like Walmart or Canadian Tire could be seen as a threat to local businesses.
Vana also mentions that many franchises are owned by local residents, so they are in many ways, just like other local businesses.
Other problems with restricting franchises that Vana brought forward included that the public would like to have competition as it offers options and keeps prices lower. He also pointed out, using pizza restaurants as an example, that there are eight restaurants that mainly sell pizza, nine other restaurants that sell pizza as a sideline, and two other businesses that occasionally sell pizza as well.
Vana questions whether or not the Town would have to be completely aware of the different items each restaurant sells when deciding whether a business should be allowed or not.
Council accepted the report as information after asking several questions of the departments. Vincent says he made the businesses aware the report was being discussed at the meeting, but there were no representatives for council to ask questions of.
The Town of Drayton Valley is looking to the future as the municipality works toward having the utilities in the community be self-sustaining services.
Elvera Thomson, the general manager of corporate services for the Town, says in the past, the surpluses from the Town’s utility operations could be anywhere from $2-3 million. Those surpluses didn’t necessarily go into a fund specifically for water and sewer, but there was lots of money being put into reserves in general.
However, there wasn’t a policy that dictated that a certain amount of funds from the water and sewer revenues had to be put in reserves.
“What ended up happening as the years went on and things got tough, we had a series of events that happened with Covid, cost of living, inflation, and more,” says Thomson. “To manage tax increases, we just put less and less into reserves.”
Now, with the looming bill of repairing and replacing integral infrastructure in the community, the Town is putting a policy in place that will ensure the surplus from the utility services will be put into a reserve fund specifically for infrastructure maintenance and replacement.
“We just got to a point where none [of the surpluses] was going into reserves and we need to get back putting a large portion of those going into an internally restricted reserve for water and sewer,” says Thomson.
Those funds will go toward replacing the aging systems for water and sewer in the community. That way, the Town will not have to rely so heavily on debt funding or government grants for the projects.
While the Town was advised by Matt Delormes with the Atlantic Infrastructure Management Network that they need to put away as much as they can to help offset future costs. He told them that the ideal number would be $8 million, but understood that it wasn’t always possible to reach that number.
Thomson says they will not be able to put that amount of money away, but they are now taking conscious steps toward building their reserves.
She says there are many small towns across the country that are in similar situations, as aging infrastructure hasn’t been at the forefront of anyone’s minds until problems are starting to occur.
“It’s not just a municipal problem,” says Thomson. “It’s a provincial and federal problem as well.”
Thomson says that after World War II, there was an infrastructure boom across Canada, and many smaller communities were able to expand. This means that most of that infrastructure is coming due around the same time, and the municipalities are going to be looking toward the provincial and federal government to help with the costs of replacement.
As of December 20, Wild Rose School Division will be laying off 46 Educational Assistants due to the division not receiving the Jordan’s Principle grant from the Federal Government.
Grant delay impact education assistant funding
Brad Volkman, the superintendent for WRSD, says in the past the funding has come through quickly and without any issues. The grant money is to be used to provide support and services to indigenous youth in the school division.
“Historically, these grants have been approved at the regional level, enabling us to offer critical services without interruption. Based on this expectation, we hired several additional Educational Assistants for the start of the 2024–2025 school year for the purpose of providing support to eligible First Nations students,” says a press release from WRSD.
Human rights tribunal couldn’t meet time demands
However, the Federal Government is currently backlogged when it comes to the grant. A Human Rights Tribunal was held to look into the funding, as it is supposed to be issued quickly as some requests for funds are urgent. They have since ordered the government to take action.
On December 10, 2024, Indigenous Services Canada responded in a report that it was not possible for them to meet the demands of the Tribunal.
Because there is no answer as to when the funding might come through, WRSD had to make the decision for layoffs as they had not budgeted for the positions outside of the grant.
The policy within WRSD is that when layoffs occur, those who are on probationary status, which is 120 days, are the first to be let go. There were 35 part-time and full-time EAs let go because of this policy. However, not all of them worked with Jordan’s Principle students.
One non-probationary EA was laid off, and the remaining ten were voluntary lay-offs, says Volkman.
“What happens is the probationary ones, due to collective agreement requirements, are laid off first, but then we can offer more tenured EAs those positions,” says Volkman.
He says the voluntary lay-offs were EAs working with Jordan’s Principle students who were offered positions with students who have more complex needs. Volkman says they declined the positions and had to be laid off.
“It’s not easy for them because in some cases the job they were offered would have been less hours or [perhaps] they would have been in a location that required them to drive a further distance,” says Volkman.
There are still 95 full-time EAs in the inclusive education department.
After 60 years of operation in the community, the Drayton Valley ski hill has closed its doors.
Weather, Insurance and Volunteers an issue
Randy Beckett, the president of the Drayton Valley Brazeau Snow Club, says there were three main factors that went into the decision to shut down: weather, insurance, and lack of volunteers.
The ski hill was built by volunteers and has been running with volunteers since then. Funding was partially provided by grants, fundraising, and rental and usage fees for the hill. These funds went toward bills like insurance and electricity. They were also used for the maintenance of the ski hill and the equipment. None of the volunteers were paid for their time.
When Beckett stepped into the role of president about eight years ago, the club was in debt and the equipment was in need of repair. A government grant of $17,000 and a massive fundraiser in the community gave them enough money to fix things up.
To round out their services, Beckett says they began to offer tubing. The club recognized that not everyone wanted to ski or were able to ski. Tubing was available to everyone and was less hard on the body. Each of the tubes was sponsored by a company, with the funds going toward the maintenance of the hill.
However, the lack of snow over the past few seasons has meant less use of the ski hill, and therefore less funds coming in.
“Unfortunately, Mother Nature has not been kind to us,” says Beckett.
In 2023, much of the local area didn’t have snow for Christmas. Beckett says the ski hill didn’t even open in the 2023/24 season.
“In my seven or eight years, we only opened three years because of snow,” says Beckett.
Insurance companies stepping away from offering coverage to ski hills
Then there was the issue with insurance. After a court case in B.C. where a customer sued a ski resort, many insurance companies stepped away from offering insurance to ski hills. Beckett says there are now only three underwriters in the world who will consider insuring a ski hill.
“Eleven of us little hills got our insurance canceled [a couple of] years ago,” says Beckett.
Previously, the Rural Municipalities of Alberta covered the insurance of the ski hill. When the insurance was cancelled through RMA, they had to find a new underwriter. The bill for the season was $24,000.
“Our insurance was $24,000 last year and we didn’t open,” says Beckett.
Finding volunteers to work the ski hill has also been a challenge.
“Everybody has so many different directions to go now in their lives,” he says. “They have just about everything except for time.”
On average, it took ten volunteers to run the ski hill each day. Beckett and his wife had a list of about 80 volunteers they could call on. However, there were times when they called all of those people and none of them were available to fill a shift for someone who had to cancel.
All three of those factors were at play when Beckett received a call from the insurance company in preparation for this season. They needed Beckett to go through everything on the property again, as they felt much of the equipment and the chalet were undervalued.
Beckett explained to them that it didn’t matter what the replacement value was for the chalet or the lift. If they failed or burned down, Beckett says the club would have to close.
With that in mind, he had put in a lower value for the chalet and other items as they would never be using the insurance to replace them. That was the only way they would be able to afford to run the ski hill. The insurance company explained that if he didn’t cover it for at least 90 percent of the replacement value they would get nothing.
“I said take the insurance off of it, I’ll take the risk,” he says.
Then the insurance company started going into details about the rental equipment, and how all of the people renting the bindings and skis had to be trained by the manufacturers in how to use them.
“What the real issue is, when it comes to insurance companies, is they do not like volunteer organizations in any way,” says Beckett. “Every one of these 11 hills that got their insurance cancelled, I believe, were volunteer organizations.”
Beckett says they feel that the volunteer organizations are unstable, as the volunteers can change regularly and with little notice.
The rental items for the ski hill will be auctioned off by Team Auctions on their December 7 sale. The property will be sold in the new year.
The Free Press asks – “What are your fondest memories of the Drayton Valley Ski Hill?”
“This fills me with nostalgia and gratitude! I started skiing at this hill at just two years old, and it ignited my love for skiing. My parents nurtured my passion by enrolling me in a ski program, and I spent countless weekends racing and growing. Our hill may not have been the biggest, but it was a place we were able to be kids at while not playing hockey or ringette. My dad and papa selflessly served as ski patrols for years, and we reveled in every moment we spent there. My papa’s dedication to the hill was remarkable as he had welded so many pieces there making it the hill it was today, and I’m deeply thankful for the volunteers who helped shape it into the haven it became. All three of my boys learned to ski on this hill, and I’m forever grateful for the escape and liberation it brought us.” – Leslie Anne Fraizer
“I learned to ski on the hill, my kids learned to ski on the hill. We’ve had many get-togethers on the hill with family and friends. As a volunteer I got to see so many littles learn to ski/snowboard and then advance to be on their own then onto the T-bar. They all get excited when they get to go on the big hill. I’ve spent many hours volunteering there as I was on the board for 20+ years and even when my kids weren’t skiing I was there.It was a great hill for many to learn on, it was in our backyard. When we decided to make the tube part it brought more families out which was great to see. It truly will be missed as I wanted my grandkids to learn how to ski/board this year on it.” – Georgia Frost
“Ooh, so many memories of the ski hill. But I would say the best was learning to snowboard there and getting courage to do the jumps off the hills … It was always fun since it was me and my sister. We had a blast, racing down getting to the bottom and the wind burnt faces ‘cause of it.” – Tricia Cottreau
“I was on the tow rope when a porcupine decided to cross… apparently the rope had enough give to allow the people to push a big loop in it. We were able to continue up the hill and the porcupine was able to continue on its walk about” – Helen Maine
“I have so many memories there as a teen in the mid 1980s… from trying to perfect the “daffy”, “backscratchers” and the “kusak” amongst learning how to telemark. This little hill with amazing volunteers taught a ton of youth some amazing skills while maintaining a very safe and supportive environment. I am a ski patrol today because of this little hill and the “gnarly” atmosphere back in the 80s that let youth hone their skills for the mountains.” – Jon Setterlund
“Watching my son Max snowboard for the first time! And he struggled with the T-bar but never gave up!” – Kathy Schwengler
“The time I knocked myself out cold. Couldn’t stop and hit a pole. That was my last time on skis. I now snowboard. I don’t think there’s any photos of that adventure…got a free sled ride behind the skidoo!!” – Jane Marie Ellis
“When Devon broke his arm, all the other kids that broke something and the fact that we all thought we had fresh pow days” – Gord Graham
“Donna and Val Palmer encouraged me to get my Level 1 ski instructor certification and teach ski lessons at the hill. I have so many memories of teaching kids and adults basic skills for skiing. My favourite memories include the Grade 5 visits and instructing a whole class on the tow rope hill. What a great introduction for those kids- who may have never been exposed to skiing.” – Astrid Mitchell
With an increase in demand for the Drayton Valley Food Bank, volunteers are concerned the facility may not keep up for much longer.
Heather and Phil Bell, the vice president and treasurer respectively, have been with the Food Bank for several years. During that time they’ve noticed a concerning trend in the uptick of users.
So far this year, they have given out hampers to 2,275 people, a stark contrast to the 2023 number of 1,653. Last year was a record year for hampers and this year has blown it out of the water.
Alberta food bank sees increased demand
The Bells says a lot of the hampers are going to families who have parents that work.
“The Food Bank, I feel, is an essential service right now, considering the need,” says Phil. “It’s something that’s heavily relied on.”
If things continue the way they have been, they’re expecting to hand out 2,556 hampers by the end of the year.
“It’s not just a blip, either,” says Phil. “This is going to continue on.”
Phil says that though they’ve seen increased usage, the generosity of the community has continued to keep up with the demand. Between food donations from local stores and food drives, the food bank has already received around $270,000 of in-kind donations.
“We have such a generous community,” says Heather. “It’s amazing.”
Heather says they are grateful for the building they’re in and the Town’s generosity in letting them use it for free. She says the location is perfect because it allows people more privacy than a location in a busier part of the community.
“But we’re outgrowing the building,” says Heather. “We’re at the point with our freezer and fridge capacity that the building can’t take anymore fridges and freezers without upgrading the electrical system.”
Space is a challenge for Drayton Valley food bank
Fridge and freezer space are vital in the Christmas season. Heather says in the past, they’ve had to turn away donations of a side of beef because they don’t have the space. Some companies have set up freezers in their buildings and offered the extra storage. Some volunteers also store some items as well.
The Bells say a sea can or some other place where they could store dried goods would be extremely helpful, as well. As it is, they have to store enough food in their building for roughly 30 hampers each pick up day.
At the beginning of November, the volunteers changed their system, and now only offer hampers on Thursdays. Phil says one recent hamper day saw volunteers hand out 86 hampers in three hours.
Creating that many food hampers also has its challenges. There isn’t a lot of room to put the hampers together and organize them, though Heather says they’ve developed a good system. Volunteers are now prebuilding hampers with dried goods for different sizes of families. On pick up days, all they have to do is go to the fridge and freezer to top the hamper off, and it can go out the door.
Thanks to a grant from the Family and Community Support Services, the Food Bank now has a part-time employee that can help with a lot of the administrative tasks. However, some recent Standards of Excellence put forth by the Federal Government is putting pressure on them as well.
The Standards of Excellence requires all Food Banks to have certain policies and procedures in place if they want to continue to be registered with Food Banks Alberta and Food Banks Canada.
Heather says it’s a great idea in theory, but the 78 page document is a massive undertaking for a busy food bank run by volunteers. Their employee is working on some of the documents, but it’s still a challenge.
“A lot of them are great ideas, but for small food banks, it’s quite overwhelming to comply with that,” says Heather.
Originally, the food banks had until March 2025 to have everything in place, but after feedback, they’ve given the smaller food banks more time to work on it.
The Bells say there are many ways for the community to help out the food bank and they won’t turn down donations if they can help it. They have more volunteers who are going through the orientation and are grateful for the continuing generosity of the community.
Community members often perform their civic duties in a variety of ways; some vote, most pay their taxes, and some volunteer their time.
The initiative, This Is Drayton Valley (TIDV), is hoping to make it easier for residents to find ways they can volunteer in their community. They’ve launched an online platform, www.lets-volunteer.com, that helps connect organizations to residents who are looking for a place to volunteer their time.
Jessica Doucette, the chair of the Healthy Community Coalition, says the idea for the platform first began when the HCC were brainstorming ways to offer programs for the clients in the Youth Hub. The biggest obstacle was finding volunteers to help out with the programs.
“We came up with this idea about creating an online platform that would make it easier for people to access volunteer opportunities,” says Doucette.
She says at that time, they were mostly considering the Youth Hub and looking for younger volunteers. They felt that an online platform would be the best way to reach out to that demographic.
When Kickstand Alberta became the parent organization of the Youth Hub, they found more challenges. As they were a newer provincial body, they weren’t ready to take on the project for all of their Youth Hubs. Doucette says rather than scrap the idea, they decided to offer it to the larger community.
“We realized it was actually an issue for everybody,” she says.
Originally, they had approached the Chamber of Commerce, who had already tried to make a similar platform. But as the HCC works under the Red Cross, they were told it wasn’t appropriate for them to work with an organization that only represented businesses. They continued to look and finally connected with Ryan Fynn, one of the founders of TIDV, to bring the idea to life.
The platform has been active for a couple of weeks, now, and as of November 22, there were 14 volunteers and 12 organizations on the site.
Fynn says the platform is similar to dating websites, in that the volunteers input information into a profile and then they can be matched with an organization that would best suit them. He says volunteers are encouraged to list things they are passionate about, their relevant skills, experience as a volunteer, how much time they want to commit, and which days they are open to help. Organizations can search for volunteers based on those parameters.
“For an example, River Valley Players is looking for a part-time musical director,” says Fynn. “If a volunteer says they are passionate about music, they will be connected to them.”
Doucette says the platform can also help people connect with someone with specific skills. “We just recently did a survey through the community parenting coalition, and we found that there’s a large majority of people that are willing to share their gifts with others,” says Doucette. “We just don’t ask the right questions.”
Fynn says it would also work well for finding volunteers for events. By listing their events and indicating what’s all involved in the positions, residents with profiles can find them and help out.
Both she and Michelle work together to help their businesses. Bossert is currently using an industrial serger that her daughter lent to her. She also has an industrial sewing machine that she bought herself for her 40th birthday.
When Bossert ships out her finished pieces, she also includes one of her handmade cards as a gift. She has also sold some of her cards, with the most recent batch going to Tennessee. Since beginning The Creative Daughter, she has had to take a step back from her painting to make her products, and she’s excited to get back to painting.
“I love the art, and the art is my reward to myself for making skirts, but I’ve haven’t had time,” she says. “I haven’t made a card for weeks.”
She’s also being requested to make a landscape painting for someone in Nunavut
Recently Bossert had MP Gerald Soroka and his wife come for a visit.
“He was a great ambassador for the small businesses in Alberta and I was honoured to have him come visit,” she says, “I thought it would only be a half-an-hour visit because he’s very busy, but it turned into four hours.”
Bossert says she loves the life she is currently living. “I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the life I have right now,” she says. She sees her children and grandchildren regularly, and she still sees friends when she can.
She says right now it feels like the end of an era for Designs By Deb, but she felt it was time to start anew.
“The Creative Daughter was a name I came up with to honour my dad, who passed away two years ago. And also because I am a daughter of the King and I am a devout Christian. I believe that it’s He that gave me the talent to do whatever I do.”
Bossert says she was never expecting this turn of events, and was content with being an artist and a grandmother. But one of the hardest things for her with her health and retirement is that she felt she couldn’t serve her community in that capacity.
Now that she has this business, she feels like she’s serving others again. “My life really has been about service, whether it’s as a volunteer, or within the faith community, or as a public figure.”
She says for many years her health limited her ability to offer most services to the community. She says it wasn’t necessarily a physical limitation, but rather a mental limitation because she thought she could no longer serve.
“My health is still as fragile as it ever was. But there are other ways to serve. It doesn’t mean you have to volunteer. There are other ways to serve and I’m very grateful for that.”
Town responds to business concerns
Drayton Valley addresses homelessness, public safety, Town services, and free enterprise issues through detailed reports, communication strategies, and community solutions.
Drayton Valley builds reserves
Drayton Valley, Alberta, is planning for sustainable utilities by building reserves for future water and sewer infrastructure.
Jordan’s Principle Grant funding delays are disrupting education in an Alberta schools
As of December 20, Wild Rose School Division will be laying off 46 Educational Assistants due to the division not receiving the Jordan’s Principle grant from the Federal Government.
Drayton Valley Ski Hill Closes After 60 Years | Challenges with Weather, Insurance, and Volunteers
After 60 years of operation in the community, the Drayton Valley ski hill has closed its doors.
Randy Beckett, the president of the Drayton Valley Brazeau Snow Club, says there were three main factors that went into the decision to shut down: weather, insurance, and lack of volunteers.
