Blog - Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation

Erin Kern Deserved Protection. She Didn’t Get It.

We are holding Erin Kern’s family in our thoughts. Erin was killed in her home earlier this year. Her father was attacked as well. The man accused of killing her […]

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. It’s time to focus on the safety and well-being of children in our community and across Alberta. Child abuse takes many forms, including physical, […]

Gender-Based Violence & the 2025 Election

On Sunday, March 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney dissolved parliament and set a new election for April 28, 2025. JMMF’s mission includes advocacy as a key activity to break the […]

Update on James Urbaniak

On April 29, 2009, James Urbaniak murdered Jessica Martel as she tried to leave their abusive relationship. He was granted a life sentence for second-degree murder, without parole for 10 […]

Advocate for More Responsive Legal and Justice Systems, with Partnership at the Federal Level

This blog is part of a series where we explore the top recommendations from the Alberta Council of Women’s Shelters (ACWS) in response to the National Action Plan to End […]

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The Jessica Martel Memorial Foundation acknowledges the traditional lands upon which we live, work, and play. We are located on Treaty 6 land, and we wish to thank the Cree, Blackfoot, Assiniboine, Dene, Iroquois, Inuit, and many other nations who have gathered on these lands for thousands of years. We also thank the Métis people of the North Saskatchewan River Territory and Western Canada.

This land has been welcoming guests for tens of thousands of years. We wish to acknowledge the many migrants who have made Canada their home. Many of these migrants are also Indigenous to their home countries and have also been colonized for hundreds of years. This legacy of colonization has left Indigenous peoples impoverished as the colonizers took away land and extracted rich resources. These migrants had to leave their countries to seek a better life for their families.

We recognize that all Albertans are Treaty people and have a responsibility to understand our history so that we can honor the past, be aware of the present, and create a just and caring future. We celebrate and value the resiliency, successes, and teachings that Alberta’s Indigenous people have shown us. We honour the legacy of colonization and its impacts on Indigenous Albertans and newcomers. Most of all, we are grateful to the Indigenous people of Alberta for sharing their land with us and blessing us with its abundance.

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