Friday - May 17, 2024 - Langley mayor to pay election fine

🌦 High 15C

Good morning!

I am at the age where a lot of my friends are getting married. And that means I am buying a lot of griddles.

It’s not on their registries. But more than 50 years ago, my grandparents received an electric frying pan for their wedding that is still going strong. My parents also received a griddle, which was only replaced by a newer model for aesthetics. So I have made this a tradition. Each newlywed gets a griddle. May your marriage last as long as the appliance—if not longer.

Some would argue that you can’t force a tradition. But I say that if you believe something strongly enough, and foist it on as many people as possible, it becomes family heritage whether they like it or not. So congratulations you guys! I hope you like your griddles.

– Grace

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

10 in 10: the Nooksack taskforce gets (relatively) busy

Ten meetings in 10 months might not sound like a lot, but given recent history, the nine governments trying to prevent another devastating Nooksack River flood might as well be teenagers who can’t get off the phone with one another.

Whether they’ll ever be able to take things to the next level remains to be seen.

• Last October, the BC and Washington State governments announced they had finally settled who would participate in international discussions about how to reduce the damage from flooding on the Nooksack River.

• Today, Tyler writes about what we know about the ongoing discussions, and what it says about future hopes of preventing a repeat of 2021.

Related

Need to Know

🚔 A man riding a scooter near UFV in Abbotsford allegedly slashed the tires of a vehicle following a confrontation with a driver [CTV]

🚠 Bridal Veil Mountain Resort near Chilliwack has signed a letter of intent with a Swiss gondola maker [Fraser Valley Today] The resort is one of two competing ski and recreation proposals in the area [FVC]

🎒 Chilliwack is one of three school districts that will be launching new one-stop childcare programs this fall [CBC]

⚽ Abbotsford’s W.J. Mouat senior girls soccer team has made school history by winning the playoffs after an undefeated season [Abbotsford News]

🏆 UFV celebrated its long-service employees this week, including Kartar Thandi, who has worked in mechanical maintenance at UFV since 1979 [UFV/X]

🚓 A Mission man was banned from driving for three days after he sped in reverse down 12th Avenue last Friday [Mission Record]

👉 Kamloops council is asking BC to help it become a more functional government [Radio NL] / We reported on a similar call for help in Harrison, and why the province is unlikely to intervene [FVC]

⚖ An Abbotsford YouTuber was ordered to pay $350,000 after he waged a ‘relentless’ defamation campaign against a US businessman [CTV]

💸 Some residents worry that the FVRD’s takeover of the Hope & Area Recreation Centre will lead to tax increases [Hope Standard]

🔥 The Bear Creek wildfire near Harrison Lake is being held at 8.2 hectares [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

🌲 Hope Slough doubled as an outdoor classroom for Chilliwack teachers hoping to connect their students with nature [Chilliwack Progress]

🗨 The Abbotsford Interfaith Movement will be discussing ways to help people who are homeless at a conference on Tuesday [Abbotsford News]

🏠 Four years after a demoviction kicked them out of their Metrotown homes, a group of tenants will be living in the new development and paying their old rents [The Tyee]

❄ Snow is expected on the Coquihalla today and Saturday, and drivers should be prepared for changing weather [Fraser Valley News Network]

📱 BC has cut a deal with Facebook for advertising, months after Premier David Eby said he wouldn’t meet with Facebook lobbyists until the company reconsidered its news ban [Squamish Chief]

The Agenda

Langley mayor ordered to pay $300 election penalty

Township of Langley mayor Eric Woodward will need to pay Elections BC a $300 penalty because his Contract with Langley slate accepted an illegal contribution to their campaign.

According to Elections BC, the Contract with Langley group received two contributions in September and October 2022: one from Amtritpal Grewal for $1,250 and another from Amritpal Grewal for $500. Elections BC contacted Woodward, who was acting as the financial agent, to see if those contributions came from the same person. Woodward said yes, and returned the $500 contribution in December 2022.

Even though Woodward returned the contribution after the election, it still meant Contract with Langley exceeded the $1,250 limit for individual support to the campaign. Although the maximum fine for taking too much money from one person is $1,000, Elections BC will only make Woodward pay $300. In their letter, they said he brought himself into compliance, returned the money, and hadn’t been subject to a penalty for this before.

Woodward can request a review within 14 days, but otherwise will need to pay the fine within 40 days.

Emergency volunteer training down to one-day course

Emergency support services volunteers who man evacuation centres and phone lines during floods, landslides, or wildfires can now get to work after just one day of training.

The ESS program is provincially funded, but is administered by local governments and First Nations. In the past, ESS responders had previously been trained through the Justice Institute of BC in a week-long course. The training has been pared down to a single-day, allowing volunteers to be trained during an emergency if needed.

The course will be available with in-person or online instruction, or in a self-paced online format. The existing week-long course will still be available online. ESS volunteers are managed locally, and interested people should contact their municipality or nation before taking the Justice Institute course.

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💾 Flashback Friday

Starting in 1899, men born in British Columbia had the opportunity to join a secret society: the Native Sons of British Columbia. (Although membership was overwhelmingly white, it was not originally exclusively so; Asian men were not explicitly excluded until 1925, and several members identified as Indigenous.) The fraternity was focused on developing a history of British Columbia that glorified pioneers and European colonization. The society was based on similar organizations south of the border, particularly California’s Native Sons of the Golden West.

The organization began in Victoria, but expanded across BC over the next 20 years. Langley’s brotherhood was established in 1927, and in 1931 had purchased the old Fort Langley storehouse and its surrounding three acres to use as a museum. The organization operated the museum at Fort Langley until 1958, when the federal government began restoring the fort. The museum’s artifacts would eventually become the foundation of the Langley Centennial Museum (now salishan Place). The picture above shows Langley’s Native Sons of BC at their annual convention at Fort Langley in 1932. The Langley faction closed around 1963.

🗓 Things to do

Duck play: Honk!, a musical adaption of The Ugly Duckling by the Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts, will be at the Abbotsford Arts Centre today and tomorrow. Tickets online.

Mom models: New moms with diverse bodies are invited to help counter the “bounce back” narrative by participating in a photo and video shoot on June 21 with UFV. Models should have had a baby less than three months before the shoot and be comfortable demonstrating simple movements. More details online or email [email protected].

Econ meeting: The Fraser Valley Economic Summit will be at UFV in Abbotsford on Tuesday, May 21. The summit will look at the Fraser Valley’s economic development and highlight local business leaders. Tickets online.

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

Catch up

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