Wednesday - June 12, 2024 - Langley politicians squabble over RCMP report

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Good morning!

We had a little bit of drama in our home this morning. My daughter had been keeping grasshoppers in two plastic containers. She would bring the containers in each night and leave them out during the day. Well, last night, they didn’t come in and when my daughter found them outside, all the grasshoppers except for a small one named Garret were seemingly dead.

My daughter was upset and immediately disposed of the corpses—before her mother or I could tell her that, maybe, they weren’t dead but just non-responsive as cold-blooded bugs can get. She remained upset, having grown attached to the little things. I, on the other hand, prefer to imagine our home the scene of a great hopper jailbreak, wherein five plucky insects faked their own death to escape the clutches of their 11-year-old captor.

Yesterday we published the longest story we have ever produced, a detailed accounting of the benefits and costs that would accompany any attempt to restore Sumas Lake to its place in the valley. You can read the story here. It’s free for all at the moment but, like most of our archived stories, it will eventually end up restricted for Insider members only. To become a member, get access to our entire archive, and support our work, subscribe here.

– Tyler

Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

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

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

The ‘Mad Man’ and his Recychestra

Boris Sichon’s garage is filled with music.

It might not look that way on a quiet Friday morning in Mission, when the only noise comes from the creaking of the garage door and the twittering of a bird outside. But inside, hiding amongst the labyrinth of teetering shelves and overflowing boxes, there is song.

“Let’s find for you,” Sichon said, rummaging through a pile of bags and cases at the front of his garage. He moved a bag, then unzipped another one. “Ah, here we go.”

He pulled out a single ram’s horn, carefully cleaned and constructed by Peruvian musicians. The grey bone spiraled and shone as Sichon put it to his lips.

Mellow and warm like honey dripping from a spoon, the music filled the driveway then floated into the lane. Sichon pulled the horn away from his mouth and smiled.

He examined the horn, explaining how it was made into an instrument, describing how different ways of holding your mouth can make different tones, different colours, different sounds. Just like with a seashell, he said.

“You play seashells? I have tons of seashells,” he said, putting the horn back on the pile. Then, he was off to find another instrument hidden in his maze of a garage.

It wouldn’t be hard. Sichon had already pulled out a similar spiral horn, made from PVC pipe fittings rather than bone. And concealed in the maze of boxes and bins were hundreds of others: a necklace of bones, an empty oil can, several dozen spoons, and a pair of spatulas.

“It’s a second life for all these things,” Sichon said. “That’s what I love … the reincarnation.”

• Today, join Grace on a tour of Sichon’s musical collection and learn about his newest project—an orchestra made entirely from recycled instruments.

• Insider members can find a special link in the story featuring audio from Sichon’s variety of recycled instruments.

Related

Wow, that was a very different story than our marathon Sumas Lake explainer, eh? Neither story happened by accident. They were produced by paid reporters. If you want to pay for the journalism you consume and value, become an Insider member today. - Tyler

Need to Know

🗳 Langley NDP MLA Andrew Mercier will seek re-election this fall [Aldergrove Star]

🔊 With the province banning public hearings on many developments, Mission is creating a new policy to let residents provide input [Mission Record]

👞 A Chilliwack teenager plans to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro for charity [Fraser Valley Today]

👉 One Fraser Valley restaurant is featured on a list of the 100 best outdoor dining venues in Canada [OpenTable]

🏠 Home sales in Chilliwack slumped last month [Chilliwack Progress]

🔥 Outside of the province’s northeast, BC’s wildfire season is off to a slow start [CBC]

☕ A new coffee shop has opened in Langley [Daily Hive]

🏒 Participation in youth hockey has plunged across Canada, with parents opting for cheaper sports [Associated Press]

🐕 A contractor hired to build a dog enclosure in Langley has filed a lawsuit after he was mauled by a pit bull [Langley Advance Times]

🎬 Canada Day in Chilliwack will include free ice skating and free matinee movies at Cottonwood 4 Cinemas [Fraser Valley Today]

SPONSORED BY COASTAL JAZZ

Vancouver International Jazz Festival kicks off Summer

The 39th Vancouver International Jazz Festival returns June 21 - 30. This year's Festival features 150 performances and more than 50 free events. Headliners include Killer Mike, Veronica Swift and Julian Lage. Opening weekend includes Downtown Jazz, a free concert series outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Granville Island will be the hub for festival activity, with free and ticketed shows at Performance Works, Ocean Artworks and the Revue Stage. Downtown theatres, clubs and North Shore venues will host live performances throughout the ten days. 

Coastal Jazz believes live music and performing arts are integral to building community, platforming social issues, and feeling connected to the city and culture. One of BC’s most prominent not-for-profit music presenters, over 30% of its Festival concerts are free because of a long-standing commitment to transcending economic barriers.

The Agenda

Langley police squabbles spread to Township council table

Squabbling between Langley Township and Langley City over the future of the two communities’ police detachment has now caused a fracture within the Township’s own council and Mayor Eric Woodward’s governing slate.

The City and Township are at loggerheads over the Township’s demand to split policing services for the two municipalities. (We first reported on the plan a year ago.) The Township says it pays more than its fair share towards policing in Langley. Last week, Langley City Mayor Nathan Pachal announced he would fight de-integration of the police force, releasing a statement that said an RCMP report noted doing so would increase costs for taxpayers in both municipalities. Soon thereafter, the Township released the full report to the Langley Advance Times, emphasizing that the document wasn’t intended for the public. The Township also said it threatened to sue the city for a greater share of costs.

At Monday’s Township council meeting, Coun. Barb Martens asked for her own copy of the report. Martens is a former police officer who ran with Woodward’s Contract With Langley slate; she is also running for BC United in the upcoming provincial election. Martens said that while she had some documentation about the RCMP split, councillors weren’t looped in on the distribution of the report to the Langley Advance Times. She asked for the same information as had been provided to the newspaper.

“I want to know what the paper received,” she said. “I have people contacting me with respect of this news article and I have not been furnished with the full report that was disclosed to the Langley Advance Times and that is all that I am asking for.”

Woodward said he didn’t want to breach discussions held in closed-meeting but replied: “Coun. Martens, you are fully aware you have a copy of the report. I’m not sure what else to add, and I’m going to disagree again with the assertion it’s in the public domain.”

Martens: “I do not know that what I have already been furnished with—extensive documentation—is what was released to the Langley Advance Times. Until I can match that, I cannot confirm they are one and the same.”

Woodward: “If you don’t believe me, I’ll leave that with you. But you have been provided with it.”

Martens: “I haven’t.”

You can watch the full exchange here.

Cool weather slows melting of below-average snowpack

BC’s snowpack remains well-below normal, even as cooler temperatures have increased the levels of streams and rivers and led to slower melting, according to the BC River Forecast Centre. The Centre’s most-recent bulletin notes that the provincial snowpack was 57% of normal as of June 1, with a little more than half of all snow accumulation having melted.

“With cooler weather over the past 2-3 weeks, snowmelt rates are moderate across the province. Recent rain events increased flows for coastal areas, bringing streams to normal to well above normal conditions for this time of year,” the latest update notes.

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SPONSORED BY THE HARRISON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

The Harrison Festival returns in July

The 45th Anniversary of the Harrison Festival is set to kick off again this July. With free music on the beach, an artisan market, indoor evening concerts, theatre, workshops, and a Children's Day, the Festival has a little something for everyone! July 12-21 in Harrison Hot Springs, BC.

📸 Current Cam

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🗓 Things to do

Thunderbolts of lightning: Queen: It's a Kinda Magic will be recreating the group's 1986 World Tour concert at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre on Wednesday, June 12. Listen to Bohemian Rhapsody, We Will Rock You, Radio GaGa, and more live on stage, in the original key. Tickets online.

Blues jam: Abbotsford's Eagles Hall is hosting the Fraser Valley Blues Society on the second Friday of every month. This month's jam session will be happening on Friday, June 14 for a night of live music and dancing. Tickets online.

Nature tour: The Fraser Valley Conservancy holds a family-friendly walk guided by local experts at 10am on Saturday, June 15 along Lane Creek in Mission. Discover what makes the creek a special habitat. Register online.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

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