Fran Hurcomb

Nov 30, 2023 | uphere.ca | Dana Bowen |Fran Hurcomb

The passengers were shaken awake as their flight finally made its turbulent landing in Edmonton. It was 2:30 a.m., and rain and hail were pelting against the windows of the Canadian Forces Hercules C-130 that had brought them here. For some of the passengers — 57 long-term-care residents of AVENS: A Community for Seniors and a baker’s dozen of support workers — it would have been another disorienting moment in a long, chaotic day, especially for those with dementia or other cognitive issues.

Nov 29, 2023 | uphere.ca | Dana Bowen |Fran Hurcomb

The passengers were shaken awake as their flight finally made its turbulent landing in Edmonton. It was 2:30 a.m., and rain and hail were pelting against the windows of the Canadian Forces Hercules C-130 that had brought them here. For some of the passengers — 57 long-term-care residents of AVENS: A Community for Seniors and a baker’s dozen of support workers — it would have been another disorienting moment in a long, chaotic day, especially for those with dementia or other cognitive issues.

Nov 29, 2023 | uphere.ca | Fran Hurcomb |Francis Tessier-Burns

Terry Freund stands firmly on the charred ground and looks up at the sky made grey from smoke. Around him hundreds of fallen trees and piles of bramble are pushed off to the side. Just weeks before, this was all vibrant green forest. Now, he might as well be standing on Mars. “The landscape has changed for my kids’ foreseeable future. Like I’m not sure if my children will know what a tree looks like on Salt Mountain until they are in their late thirties or forties,” he says.