User:Amopiyesisiskwew/Evaluate an Article

Evaluate an article
This is where you will complete your article evaluation. Please use the template below to evaluate your selected article.


 * Name of article: (link); Maskwacîs Maskwacis
 * Briefly describe why you have chosen this article to evaluate; This is a community in Treaty 6 with a high population and is known to non-indigenous albertans as being a "hub" for gang violence.

Lead

 * Guiding questions

Maskwacis /ˈmʌskwətʃiːs/, renamed in 2014 from Hobbema /hoʊˈbiːmə/, is an unincorporated community in central Alberta, Canada at intersection of Highway 2A and Highway 611, approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) south of the City of Edmonton. The community consists of two Cree First Nations communities – one on the Ermineskin 138 reserve to the north and the other on the Samson 137 reserve to the south. It also consists of an adjacent hamlet within Ponoka County. The community also serves three more nearby First Nations reserves including Samson 137A to the south, Louis Bull 138B to the northwest, and Montana 139 to the south.

The area was originally known as Maskwacis, and Father Constantine Scollen always referred to it as "Bear Hills" when he attempted to re-establish a Catholic mission there, in late 1884 and 1885, around the time that he and Chief Bobtail succeeded in persuading the young men not to join the North-West Rebellion. The first railway station was named Hobbema after the Dutch painter Meindert Hobbema during the construction of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway in 1891. As a result, all of Hobbema's neighbouring communities came to bear names of First Nations origin (Ponoka ("elk"), Menaik ("spruce"), Wetaskiwin ("hills where peace was made")), with the exception of Hobbema itself. The community, including the hamlet portion within Ponoka County, was renamed Maskwacis (meaning "bear hills" in Cree) on January 1, 2014.

The community has an employment centre, health board and college.


 * Does the Lead include an introductory sentence that concisely and clearly describes the article's topic? Slightly, seems like there are few details that aren't included such as culture, which is arguably the biggest role Maskwacis plays in other communities (lodge holders are known everywhere through word of mouth in "Indian Country").
 * Does the Lead include a brief description of the article's major sections?Slightly, it excludes crime/demography from the sections below.
 * Does the Lead include information that is not present in the article? Yes, it includes a bit of Maskwacîs history that is not elaborated on in other sections.
 * Is the Lead concise or is it overly detailed? it's overly detailed, it delves into history and eludes to colonialism but isn't later explained throughout the article.

Content

 * Guiding questions

Geography[edit]
Reserves and communities around Maskwacis The community straddles the boundaries between the Ermineskin 138 reserve, the Samson 137 reserve and Ponoka County. The northern portion of the community is located within Ermineskin 138 on the west side of Highway 2A. The southern portion of the community is located within Samson 137 on the east side of Highway 2A and north side of Highway 611. The remaining portion of the community is located within Ponoka County on the west side of Highway 2A across from the Samson 137 portion of the community and south of the Ermineskin 138 portion of the community.

The Ermineskin 138 portion of the community is located within Census Division No. 11, while the Samson 137 and Ponoka County portions are located within Census Division No. 8.

Maskwacis serves five reserves of four Cree First Nation band governments, which are collectively known as the "four nations" and are each party to Treaty Six. The four nations include the Ermineskin Cree Nation, Samson Cree Nation, Louis Bull First Nation, and the Montana First Nation.


 * Is the article's content relevant to the topic? Yes it is relevant.
 * Is the content up-to-date? It is up to date but lacking, things like notable events/cases involving Maskwacîs are excluded.
 * Is there content that is missing or content that does not belong? It is missing notable areas within Maskwacîs like the Panee Memorial Agriplex where the rodeo culture thrives (Ermineskin), numerous businesses owned by the Maskwacîs bands, missing much of the community's notable history (Such as Maskwacîs leaders being involved in the writing of the Red Paper) and so on.
 * Does the article deal with one of Wikipedia's equity gaps? Does it address topics related to historically underrepresented populations or topics? Barely, this page does not do a good job at representing Maskwacîs' rich history, culture, language or people.

Tone and Balance

 * Guiding questions

Crime[edit]
The community has attracted national media attention in Canada for its problems with crime and gangs. In an attempt to cut down on crime, the Hobbema Cadet Corp was established with the goal of keeping children as young as eight years old off the streets.

The Pê Sâkâstêw Centre, a minimum-security facility based on Aboriginal healing processes, is located in Maskwacis.


 * Is the article neutral? It is neutral.
 * Are there any claims that appear heavily biased toward a particular position? No there isn't.
 * Are there viewpoints that are overrepresented, or underrepresented? The presence of Crime is underrepresented in this article, many notable cases that have put Maskwacîs on the map (for the wrong reasons) have not been represented in the article.
 * Does the article attempt to persuade the reader in favor of one position or away from another? I would say that It doesn't but the exclusion of information (language, culture, etc.) plays a role in forming the reader's impression of the community.

Sources and References

 * Guiding questions


 * Are all facts in the article backed up by a reliable secondary source of information? I believe so.
 * Are the sources thorough - i.e. Do they reflect the available literature on the topic? Yes but I think more can be added to be more thorough.
 * Are the sources current? Yes, the most current update being August 2019.
 * Are the sources written by a diverse spectrum of authors? Do they include historically marginalized individuals where possible? No, most of the sources are white author's talking about Maskwacîs as a community (CBC, Edmonton Journal, etc.)
 * Check a few links. Do they work? All but one worked, #14 did not load.

Organization

 * Guiding questions


 * Is the article well-written - i.e. Is it concise, clear, and easy to read? Easy to read but vague in some areas.
 * Does the article have any grammatical or spelling errors? No it does not.
 * Is the article well-organized - i.e. broken down into sections that reflect the major points of the topic? Yes but did not include a section for culture, language and history of the community (arguably the most important areas of Maskwacîs)

Images and Media

 * Guiding questions


 * Does the article include images that enhance understanding of the topic? No, the only pictures on the page are of the general Maskwacîs location/area and that's it.
 * Are images well-captioned? Slightly, the grain elevator is explained kind of vaguely.
 * Do all images adhere to Wikipedia's copyright regulations? Yes
 * Are the images laid out in a visually appealing way? No, yet again it's just maps/physical descriptions. I would like to see pictures

Checking the talk page

 * Guiding questions

Untitled[edit]
I don't know how to do this myself, and would appreciate some help.

When I typed "Hobbema" I was taken directly to Hobbema, Alberta. Of course I was looking for Hobbema the painter. Since the location in Alberta is just a tiny hamlet, while the painter is well-known and widely admired, I would think search should go directly to Meindert Hobbema the painter. Seems like a disambiguation page would be helpful, too.

The way it is now, someone who wants to read about Hobbema the painter can't find the page. There is no link from the Hobemma, Alberta page. (Of course you could go out of Wikipedia to Google, and type "Hobbema" in Google, and find the Wikipedia article there.)

Thanks, Paugus (talk) 20:01, 28 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you for pointing this out. I (and apparently some other editors as well) was unaware of Meindert Hobbema. I have changed the article Hobbema into a disambiguation page with links to both meanings. Indefatigable (talk) 19:42, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Census data[edit]
I'm confused by the census data - stating there are no people and no residences there. This can't be true? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.180.219.37 (talk) 16:56, 3 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Yep, it is confusing, but is what the 2011 census reports. Perhaps StatCan can explain. Hwy43 (talk) 05:50, 4 May 2013 (UTC)

Article title[edit]
With no other use of Maskwacis, shouldn't the article be located at that title? 117Avenue (talk) 22:43, 1 January 2014 (UTC)


 * Sure. I would not oppose. Hwy43 (talk) 22:48, 1 January 2014 (UTC)


 * What kinds of conversations, if any, are going on behind the scenes about how to represent this topic? Confusion between hobbema as a community and the dutch painter it was named after, census data confusion, etc.
 * How is the article rated? Is it a part of any WikiProjects? It is rated as low importance and no it is not.
 * How does the way Wikipedia discusses this topic differ from the way we've talked about it in class? Wikipedia seems uniformed about the people, political landscape and culture of the community whereas in class we can discuss Maskwacîs' culture because we are either well acquainted with the community or some people we may have crossed paths with from there.

Overall impressions

 * Guiding questions


 * What is the article's overall status? Low
 * What are the article's strengths? The article's strengths are that it explains the surface layer of Maskwacîs as a community well but not much else.
 * How can the article be improved? By adding quite a few other sections such as the relevance of the Cree Language in their community, culture of Maskwacîs and history within the article.
 * How would you assess the article's completeness - i.e. Is the article well-developed? Is it underdeveloped or poorly developed? underdeveloped. It is missing lots of relevant material within the article.

Optional activity

 * Choose at least 1 question relevant to the article you're evaluating and leave your evaluation on the article's Talk page. Be sure to sign your feedback

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