Friday, May 5, 2023 edition - Newcomers urge transit mediation; labour minister won’t impose one

Friday, May 5, 2023 | 🌧 High 13C | Forecast

Good morning!

If you drive BC’s highways enough, you may occasionally notice a sign declaring “barrier removed” while driving through areas that have seen recent construction. So let’s consider for a second BC’s most useless road sign.

The “barrier removed” sign is erected when road crews remove one of those cement barriers intended to stop out-of-control drivers from into a waterbody or off a cliff. Those barriers have saved lives. They’re good. But I’m baffled by the signs that warn of their removal because, I wonder, just who, exactly, is such a sign going to help?!?

Is a driver destined to collide with a barrier going to see a sign and suddenly drive carefully? to avoid the looming cliff? No! If the driver needs a barrier, the driver has already lost control. That’s why they need the barrier in the first place! The only possible result is that some poor cliff-bound motorist takes out the sign on their way over the cliff. The signs don't urge more-than-normal caution (and often they're not placed much in front of the absent barrier). They just tell you not to crash, while you may be crashing. The sign doesn’t say slow down. It just says “hey, something useful used to exist in this spot.” Which sure isn’t helpful. Rant over.

Thanks to new members David, Leonard, and Jessica. You can join them and support our work here.

NEWS

Newcomers call for mediation in Fraser Valley transit strike

Twice a week, a group of recent immigrants meets in Abbotsford to talk and practise the English skills that will help them in their new country. Such meetings happen every week in communities across the Fraser Valley.

But for many, getting to those meetings is much harder now that a strike has halted local bus service.

Deng, one of the newcomers that attend language classes at Archway Community Services, has been trying to work as much overtime as possible to pay for her daughter to use a taxi to attend university.

“I’m always tired,” Deng said in an article distributed by Archway to encourage a resolution to the strike. Up to half those who attend Archway classes rely on the bus to get to key appointments and amenities, the non profit says. And other programs that serve vulnerable, low-income or racialized people have also been disproportionately affected.

“It is time for solutions,” Zainab, a newcomer from Afghanistan, said in the Archway article.

But the province has not yet appointed a special mediator to try to settle the dispute. Why not?

• We spoke this week to BC Labour Minister Harry Bains to get his response to those like Zainab —including local politicians—who have asked him to appoint someone to get the buses running.

Need to know

🍾 Drinking in designated Langley City public spaces is likely to become permanently legal [Langley Advance Times]

👷 An Abbotsford treatment centre that helps male abuse survivors train for construction careers will start its second cohort at the end of the month [Province of BC]

➡️ Harrison Hot Springs will lose its fourth high-ranking village staff member in six months after its financial officer resigned [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🐄 Dickland Farms in Chilliwack wants to produce enough renewable natural gas from cow manure to power 2,000 homes [FortisBC]

🔥 A 55-year-old man died in a house fire in Aldergrove yesterday [Aldergrove Star]

🌊 A high streamflow advisory was issued for the Coquihalla River [Hope Standard]

🚍️ Chilliwack’s Chamber of Commerce is calling for the province to end the Fraser Valley transit strike [Chilliwack Progress]

🟨 Advocates for Amber Alerts for adults include a Chilliwack MP who will bring a motion to the House of Commons [Chilliwack Progress]

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The Agenda

New boardwalks and bridges for local trails

Several popular Fraser Valley trails have received significant upgrades in recent months.

The boardwalk on the Popkum Community Trail has received a facelift with new decking, according to an Fraser Valley Regional District report. The trail, which allows users to hike to the southern portion of the Cheam Wetlands, also has a larger parking area now.

Work has also been underway on the Lakeside Trail along Cultus Lake to connect Sunnyside Campground and Entrance Bay. That work was expected to be completed in April.

And in Harrison Mills, the riverside trail in Eagle Point Community Park—a popular birdwatching site—has also been upgraded.

UFV may offer journalism minor

University of the Fraser Valley students looking for a fulfilling, if not particularly lucrative, career in journalism may also soon get a chance to bolster their credentials.

The university is looking to add a minor in journalism to the various other majors and minors students can take. That process is still in the approval process.

UFV is also considering upgrading its communications department into what it would call a “School of Communication.” Such a move would allow for more partnerships with other universities and academics, and allow for the development of additional communications-related programs, according to a memo.

UFV already has several other “schools,” including schools of business, community, creative arts and several others.

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