Friday - May 31, 2024 - Langley Khalsa school looks to Abbotsford

🌤 High 19C

Good morning!

I can see why some people say Jane Austen is dry. Her stories are more than 200 years old, and the language can sound stilted compared to how we write today. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the effort to get the jokes, innuendos, and insults that Miss Austen peppers in her writing.

Take this example: “He had, in fact … been nothing better than a thick-headed, unfeeling, unprofitable Dick Musgrove, who had never done anything to entitle himself to more than the abbreviation of his name.”

It has been 207 years since that sentence was published, and I think it still stands up as one of the most withering burns in literature.

– 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

Festivals, Father’s Day, and free jazz

School is out—or just about—and summer fun is ready to begin.

June will be chock full of festivals, concerts, history, games, and community. From a revitalized Sasquatch Festival in Harrison and a celebration of Black resilience on Juneteenth to a repair café for broken bikes or an afternoon of butter churning, there’s lots to do across the Fraser Valley.

We’re trying something new this time, and breaking down your must-do events by location. So whether you’re in Langley, Abbotsford-Mission, or the Eastern Fraser Valley, we have something for you to explore this June.

• Today, we showcase nine things you’ll want to do in the Fraser Valley this month, plus a few Father’s Day events for you to check out too.

Related

Need to Know

⚖ A class action lawsuit by Sumas Prairie property owners alleging the City of Abbotsford botched its 2021 flood response will be heading to trial [Vancouver Sun] / You can read our story about the key questions to be answered at the trial early next week [FVC]

🔪 A Chilliwack chef had a bag of cooking implements stolen last weekend, and the community has rallied to help him [Chilliwack Progress]

❔ Hope RCMP are looking for more information about a 38-year-old man found dead last September along Highway 3 [Hope Standard]

🚓 BC’s police watchdog said Langley police were not responsible for the death of a man who set fire to his own home during a standoff [Langley Advance Times]

💊 BC is now offering 100% coverage for the COVID medication Paxlovid, 18 months after the federal government stopped providing free access to it [BC Gov News]

👉 A Langley teacher said a group of young teens assaulted another youth in Willowbrook Mall Wednesday [Langley Advance Times]

🔎 Chilliwack RCMP are asking for help to find a 86-year-old missing man [Chilliwack Progress]

🗳 Real estate agent Merrick Matteazzi will run with BC United in Abbotsford-Mission riding this fall [Mission Record]

🎓 An Abbotsford program that helps young parents graduate high school received a big thank you from its seven most-recent graduates [Abbotsford News]

✨ The Northern lights could be visible again on June 6 [604 Now]

🐶 Dog owners will need vet-approved documentation to cross into the United States starting Aug. 1 [Vancouver Sun]

🚂 Two men are accused of smuggling people from Canada to the United States on a freight train [CBC]

💧 Los Angeles uses ‘spongey’ infrastructure to collect and store water during rainstorms [Wired]

🌕 Astronauts will be stepping back on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years; first, they need to practice their moon walk [Nature]

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The Agenda

Langley Khalsa school looks to build new facility in Abbotsford

A Langley private school is looking to relocate to Abbotsford, where it hopes to build a new elementary school, a childcare centre, and a post-secondary institution on a property just north of the city centre.

Khalsa School, a multi-campus faith-based school based out of Surrey, currently operates an elementary school in a 77-year-old school building near Langley’s Gloucester Estates Industrial Park. The school is hoping to build a new facility in Abbotsford at the intersection of Gladwin and Downes roads. (Abbotsford city staff say the school hopes to relocate to the city because most of its students live in Abbotsford.)

The proposed school would have space for about 500 students. The school would include a gurdwara. It would be joined by a 94-space childcare centre and a 13,500-square-foot private college. The proposed site is located kitty-corner from a private Christian school and just a couple blocks from Dr. Roberta Bondar Elementary School.

The project needs an Official Community Plan amendment to proceed; council got a first look at the proposal Tuesday and agreed to send it to a future public hearing. Staff have supported the application, writing in a report to council that it “responds to the cultural needs and aspirations of Abbotsford’s diverse population and creates neighbourhoods that encourage social interaction and community participation opportunities.”

Correction

In yesterday’s agenda story on the new Agassiz pool, we mistakenly conflated two of the First Nations who will be using the regional aquatic centre. The correct names are Sq’éwlets and Sq’éwqel (Seabird Island) First Nations.

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💾 Flashback Friday

The early 20th century saw British Columbia transition to the new age of automobiles. And that required gasoline. Early drivers needed to get their gas from either distribution terminals in the outskirts of communities or at shed-style stations in urban business centres. But neighbourhood stations in more rural areas soon began to pop up.

In 1928, Home Oil Distributors Ltd. began selling oil and gas in British Columbia; by 1931, it had a number of gas and service stations around the Lower Mainland. One of these was the Ross Brother’s Home Gas station in Aldergrove. Like many gas stations of the period, the Ross brothers didn’t just pump gas. They also fixed family cars, serviced farm machinery, and repaired bicycle tires. This video from the Vancouver Archives shows the Ross’ gas station, along with a number of other Home Gas stations across the Lower Mainland, in the early 1930s.

🗓 Things to do

Plant Sale: Gwynne Vaughan Park in Chilliwack is having its annual plant sale on Saturday, June 1 starting at 9am. Details online.

Art Show: The Big Tiny Art Show will be held at the Kariton Art Gallery in Abbotsford's Mill Lake Park. Artists will present a 4x4-sized work in any medium. Opening day is Saturday, June 1 and the show runs from Thursdays to Saturdays 11am to 3pm until June 29. Details online.

Talent Show: Langley’s Mayday Club is hosting its third annual talent show at Murrayville Community Memorial Hall on Sunday, June 2. Neurodivergent people and allies are invited to perform. Tickets online.

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Catch up

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