Arenas on Stolen Land - Edmonton's Rogers Place & Gentrification
Episode description
Today on the podcast, we go to Alberta.
The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers are sworn enemies on the ice, their rivalry known as the 'Battle of Alberta'. And off the ice, the way these cities approach their hockey infrastructure couldn't be any more different. Calgary residents recently voted in a referendum to refuse the city's bid to host the 2026 Winter Olympics, and the city is also adamantly refusing to pour public money into building a new arena for the Flames. Meanwhile 3 hours up the road in Edmonton, the Oilers moved into their shiny new digs at Roger's Place in 2016, at a cost of $313 million to local taxpayers. And to top it off, the new arena is contributing to the forced displacement of an urban Indigenous community just down the street.
On today's episode, we're joined by Rylan Kafara and Jay Scherer from the University of Alberta, who have both been studying the impacts of Roger's Place on their city. Rylan gives us a tour of the surrounding area, and they both break it all down for us.
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