Friday, Sept. 29, 2023 Edition - Reconciliation and your city

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WORTH KNOWING

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

⚠️ Here’s the current smoke forecast / Check the BC Wildfire Dashboard here

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

NEWS

Your Fraser Valley city and reconciliation

Eight years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada delivered a sobering report on the residential school system, along with 94 calls to action to start repairing its damaging legacy.

Of those calls to action, three specifically called for action by municipal governments. Ahead of this year’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we asked Fraser Valley city governments what, if anything, they have done to address those calls to action.

Some governments told us they were mostly following the lead of the provincial government and that their hands were tied. But others were able to point to concrete actions taken relating to the calls to action.

• You can read their responses in our story here.

• You can read all the calls to action here.

• You can also start reading the summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The report contains detailed, factual evidence of what occurred in Canada’s residential schools.

• And you can read our story from 2021 on the warnings that abounded about the dire state of Fraser Valley schools here.

Need to know

🗃️ Mission's mayor filed a code-of-conduct complaint against a councillor; the councillor has now sued the mayor [Mission Record]

🚽 The men’s bathroom in Linwood Park in Langley is closed after vandals smashed a toilet [Langley City/Twitter]

🛣️ The connector between Highway 17 and Highway 91 has been completed [Province of BC]

🚘️ Road rage was not an acceptable excuse in a car crash case in Langley [Langley Advance Times]

🔥 An Indigenous firefighter says cultural liaison officers could help Indigenous communities and firefighters communicate in the future [CBC]

🧑‍🚒 Langley might move firefighter training to the old Brookswood firehall [Langley Advance Times]

🦷 An Abbotsford dentist was suspended from practising for a year and fined $6,000 for a variety of ethical lapses [Abbotsford News]

🐻 Wildlife advocates say the number of bears killed after being captured in BC is unacceptable [Langley Advance Times]

📺️ A new Jumbotron was unveiled in Abbotsford Centre [Abbotsford News]

👉️ A car caught on fire near Agassiz; no injuries were reported [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

😷 Masking is returning to healthcare settings in BC, including hospitals and care homes [CTV]

🚛 An Abbotsford trucking company was named in a $10 million lawsuit after a crash in California killed two people [Abbotsford News]

🍑 The former homestead of the Peach family in Chilliwack will become 20 different lots after subdivision [Fraser Valley Today]

The Agenda

Survey to collect feedback on future of Mill Lake Park

Abbotsford residents now have their chance to provide feedback on what they would like to see added—or not removed—from Mill Lake Park.

Earlier this month, The Current reported on how the city is creating a new plan for the park’s future. Potential changes included the removal of the boardwalk, the restoration of a historic railway trestle, and the removal or relocation of the lawn bowling facility. As part of that work, the city created three different concepts. The city has now provided images for each concept. You can see them here: Active | Balanced | Passive.

The city has also launched a survey for residents to provide feedback on the potential changes. Residents are also able to highlight what they would like to see added, and what they most want to be preserved. You can take the survey and learn more about the project here.

Langley City plans housing reform for nearly $10 million grant

Langley City is hoping to get nearly $10 million from a federal housing program.

The funding from the CMHC Housing Accelerator Program doesn’t have to be used on housing projects, but is conditional on Langley’s plans for seven different housing initiatives. The initiatives, selected by the city from a longer list of options provided by the CMHC, includes standard pre-approved plans for garden suites and plex-homes; reducing parking requirements for housing developments near transit; density bonusing (or letting developers build more units if they provide useful extras, like a few below-market rentals); new application systems; and delegating some project approvals to city staff. The last initiative would waive public hearings on affordable housing projects that are consistent with the city’s official community plan, and would replace the formal hearings with public information meetings instead.

If approved, the funding would be paid out in four installments over four years. City staff estimate that about $670,000 of the nearly $10 million would be needed to fund the new housing initiatives. The remaining $9 million could be used to support affordable housing and to build “housing- and community-related infrastructure,” ranging from parks and trails to sewer lines and streetlights.

NEWS

A talk with author Jessica McDiarmid

Canada is moving in the right direction on reconciliation, but not quickly enough, author Jessica McDiarmid says.

“There does need to be a revamp of many of the systems we have in place and the attitudes we have in place—and that’s how everyone can make a difference,” McDiarmid told Chilliwack podcaster and Chawathil First Nation councillor Aaron Pete recently in an interview for his Bigger Than Me podcast.

McDiarmid, who wrote an award-winning book on the Highway of Tears and missing and murdered Indigenous women, spoke with Pete about police and judicial corruption, investigating the murders, and the need for reconciliation.

• You can watch the full interview here.

Things to do

🎵 Concert: Mission’s Coffee House Concert series, Gin and Tall Tales, starts up in the cafetorium at the Clark Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 30 this year. Details online.

🌱 Nature walk: Join author Natalie Lang for a guided nature walk at Willband Creek Park in Abbotsford on Saturday, Sept. 30. Taking place on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the event will incorporate Indigenous history and awareness of the area. More info online.

🎞️ Film screening: The Clark Theatre will hold a showing of independent Canadian film The Bones of Crows, a story focusing on siblings in Canada’s residential school system, on Friday, Sept. 29. Details online.

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