Calgary December Luncheon: Bridging the Gap: Using a Quality of Life Approach to Integrate our Understanding of Health, Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts in the Oil Sands

The next CPANS Calgary Technical Luncheon presentation is Wednesday, December 13, 2017. Please register by end of Friday, December 8th!

Presenters:

Debra Hopkins, Environmental Health Team Lead, Policy and Planning Division, Alberta Environment and Parks

Debra Hopkins is the Environmental Health Team Lead at Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) and has been working in the field of environmental public health for over 17 years. Since joining AEP, she has been a strong advocate for the integration of human well-being, cultural diversity and the social determinants of health into government policy and land use planning initiatives that support cumulative effects management. Currently her work includes applying natural and social scientific methodologies to evaluate potential impacts to human well-being. She is passionate about building community-based research approaches that respectfully reflect Indigenous and western knowledge systems. She has worked for Alberta Health, Health Canada and started her path into the world of environmental health as a consultant with Intrinsic Environmental Sciences (formally Cantox Environmental) in Calgary.

Kaitlyn Wall, Environmental Health Risk Assessment Modeller, Policy and Planning Division, Alberta Environment and Parks

Kaitlyn Wall has been with Alberta Environment and Parks for 4 years as an Environmental Health Risk Assessment Modeller. During her time with government she has had the opportunity to work on health risk assessments, risk assessment modelling and spatial analysis, health impact assessments, quality of life assessments, community based environmental health projects, and health-based regulatory guideline development.

Topic:

Bridging the Gap: Using a Quality of Life Approach to Integrate our Understanding of Health, Social, Environmental and Economic Impacts in the Oil Sands

For land use planning purposes, a Quality of Life (QOL) approach was developed by the Alberta Government, as part of a Regional Strategic Assessment, to characterize human well-being in the face of existing and future oil sands development in the south Athabasca oil sands region of Alberta. This innovative approach delivered practical solutions using natural and social science methods to evaluate potential impacts to QOL, with a focus on understanding health (e.g., well-being, health risk) and its connection to our environment (air, water, biodiversity and land). The use of this approach as an integrative tool to describe the linkages between economic, social and environmental influences represented a novel way of informing oil sands development planning and policy. Discussion of the QOL findings will show how new perspectives can be gained from the application of this approach on community level and regional scales, integrating both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples’ perspectives.

Registration and payment:
Please register by end of Friday, December 8th for the event, so that we can order the correct number of lunches. Register for this event with Paypal online registration and payment (there is an option for using a credit card, no Paypal account is required).

CPANS member cost is $35
Non-member cost is $45

You can also register by emailing CalgaryLuncheon@cpans.org and then we accept payment upon arrival to the luncheon by debit, credit card, cash or cheque. (Please note, the credit/debit card machine works slowly, and you are encouraged to register online, OR bring a cash or cheque, OR arrive 30 minutes before the presentation starts, to make sure we are able to register everyone on time). If you register and are not able to attend, please provide 24 hours notice so that we can adjust our numbers with the venue.

If there is sufficient interest, we will offer a remote webcast option for those who wish to attend the presentation but cannot get to Calgary. Please contact CalgaryLuncheon@cpans.org if you are interested in this option.

The presentation will start at 12pm at the Ramada Hotel (708 8th Avenue Southwest, Calgary). Food will be served at 11.30am.

For Paypal Registration, click the links below:

CPANS Member Registration ($35)

Non-Member Registration ($45)