Thursday - June 5, 2025 - Summer opt-in possible for student transit users

☀ High 25C

Good morning!

Be wary out there allergy-sufferers: there’s a lot of pollen flying around. My husband cleared out the garage yesterday, and swept up a quilt’s-worth of cottonwood fluff. That, combined with the delicate yellow film covering the car, made for an afternoon of dripping snot, stuffed snuffles, and explosive sneezes.

So take your anti-histamines, and learn from my mistakes. The outdoors are nice, but you may need to bring a brick of Kleenex with you.

– Grace

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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

Abbotsford police shared plan to reduce youth violence days before stabbing death

Just days before an Abbotsford teen was stabbed to death in a local park, a city committee was told that police were working to reduce violence among teens in the city.

The increased police activity was intended to respond to an increase in conflicts in recent months. But the youth disorder occurring in Abbotsford wasn’t unexpected or new; an Abbotsford Police Department spokesperson told The Current that youth disorder follows seasonal patterns, with more conflicts as the weather warms.

• Today, Tyler looks at how Abbotsford police plan to tackle youth crime, and how Abbotsford’s crime rates compare to other local communities.

Related

Need to Know

🚔 A man wounded in a targeted shooting in Langley last fall is now facing charges following an IHIT investigation [Langley Advance Times]

🚜 Police found half a million dollars worth of stolen ATVs, motorcycles, cars, and a tractor at two properties in Mission and Abbotsford [Abbotsford News]

🎧 RCMP arrested a man in Mission last week after using an app to track the location of a pair of stolen AirPods [Mission Record]

🚒 Chilliwack firefighters extinguished a kitchen fire on Fairfield Island Wednesday [Chilliwack Progress]

🚲 Hope SAR volunteers rescued a man injured while cycling on the Skagit River Trail Monday [Hope Standard]

🎓 Stó:lō teacher and UFV Chancellor Gwen Point will receive an honourary doctorate for her achievements next week [UFV]

🍕 A new pizza franchise is opening in Hope on Saturday—and giving away free pizza for a year to the first 10 patrons [Fraser Valley Today]

⛔ First Nations are asking to temporarily close some BC parks, but that’s actually a good thing, one writer argues [Narwhal]

💸 The United States has doubled its tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50% as of yesterday; the federal government will take ‘some time’ to consider its next steps, PM Mark Carney said [Global]

📸 CURRENT CAM: Congratulations to Brock, who was the first person to identify yesterday’s Current Cam as a storage area near Norrish Creek.

🪕 The full weekend schedule for the Mission Folk Music Festival, July 25-27, is online now. Early Bird discounts to June 30. Come Find Your Folk!*

*Sponsored Listing

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SPONSORED BY THE HARRISON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

The Harrison Festival returns with the 46th annual event

From July 11-20, the Harrison Festival will be celebrating its 46th edition. The festival includes two music stages, an evening of theatre, a renowned artisan market, an art exhibit, and a Children’s Day midweek. With an intimate and laid-back atmosphere, the event will showcase the best in roots music from Canada and around the world.

Come listen to artists like Bentall Taylor Ulrich, Five Alarm Funk, and Kobo Town who have all wowed BC audiences for years. Other acts from near and far like Chilliwack's own Bawah and The Chilliwack Rock Choir, as well as Grammy winner Ruthie Foster, the Jeremy Ledbetter Trio, and over a dozen more. Most performances are free and are open to all ages. Come support Canadian artists in Harrison this July!

The Agenda

UFV students may be able opt-in for summer transit pass

Students at UFV may be able to keep using a university pass to access BC Transit services—even if they aren’t taking classes in the summer.

The City of Chilliwack approved the continuation of an agreement with UFV and BC Transit that gives students a discount on transit and access to some recreational facilities in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Mission. The pass recently transitioned to a new electronic system called Umo, which has a mobile app or reloadable card. (BC Transit is phasing in the system across all its bus networks.)

The could agreement will give UFV students the option to “opt-in” to UPass during the summer semester, even if they aren’t taking classes. The aim is to provide students with affordable transit during summer work terms, and hopefully lead to increased ridership on transit systems in the long-term. Chilliwack staff said universities in Victoria and Kamloops have similar programs and revenue loss for those municipalities is “negligible.”

Chilliwack received roughly $463,000 from the UPass program over the last 12 years, just under 6% of the city’s total bus revenue.

The agreement also means the city, UFV, and BC Transit would not need to sign another deal. Unlike the previous UPass agreement, which needed to be reaffirmed every few years, the new contract would continue indefinitely until one of the organizations decides to terminate it.

Although the agreement has been signed by the City of Chilliwack, it still needs approval from BC Transit, UFV, and UFV’s student union, as well as Mission and Abbotsford, before it comes into force.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the changes were now in force. The agreement still needs to be signed by several parties before it comes into force. The online version of the newsletter has been corrected to reflect the change.

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Classifieds

• 30' Rockwood Signature Ultra Lite 2012 5th-Wheel Travel Trailer [EMAIL]

Annual FVC members can find a link to submit their annual classified in the weekly FVC Insiders Edition. Become a FVC member here.

🗓 Things to do

Line dance: Langley's Bez Arts Hub hosts a country music and line dancing community dance on Friday. Details online.

Canadiana concert: Former Great Big Sea bandmember Sean McCann performs at Ryder Lake Hall on Friday as part of his Great Big Canadian Road Trip. Details and tickets online.

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

Catch up

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