Thursday, June 29 2023 edition - An 'exhausting' battle for school equality

Thursday, June 29, 2023 | 🌤 High 27C

Good morning!

You may have heard that the library has robots you can borrow! This year, my oldest kid’s class used these quite a bit—they teach coding and logic skills. Inspired, I recently visited the library and got on the waitlist to take one home. Earlier this month, I brought home a robot for a couple weeks. It was a hit with the kids (potentially because I accidentally downloaded the app with all the games, rather than the educational stuff). The robot has now moved on to the next family, but seems likely to return to my home. With summer upon us, if you are looking to occupy a pair of kids, there are definitely worse ways to do so.

It’s been about three months since we launched our membership program and I’m getting a little sentimental about just how many of you have stepped up to support us. We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for you. So thanks from the bottom of my heart. Keep reading at the bottom of the newsletter for an early look at some of the stories we’re working on.

If you haven’t become a member already, you can do so here. Every time someone becomes a member, my phone gets an alert; it always makes me smile.

WORTH KNOWING

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

⚠️ Here’s the current smoke forecast / Check the BC Wildfire Dashboard here

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

NEWS

What adults can learn from kids about inclusion

Sophia got to go to the waterslides after all.

Leah Burrell just wishes it didn’t take an administrative battle for her 12-year-old daughter to get to experience the same field trip as her peers.

Sophia’s story made news last week when Tamara Taggart, an advocate for people with disabilities, wrote online that the Grade 7 Langley student had been told she couldn’t go to the waterslides because of a staffing issue.

An outpouring of media coverage and support followed—especially from Sophia’s classmates—prompting the Langley School District to figure out a way to allow Sophia to join her classmates. For Burrell, the episode was just the latest in a string of battles to ensure her child is included in school activities. And she’s hardly alone, she said; her story prompted hundreds of parents across the province to contact her with their own struggles.

The widespread ongoing nature of the struggle is dispiriting, Leah told The Current. But there’s also hope thanks to Sophia’s generation.

• Today, Tyler talks to Leah about Sophia, waterslides, fighting for inclusion, and whether the Langley School District has asked for her insight into how to prevent such episodes in the future.

Need to know

🏒 New ice and dry floor arenas will be constructed in a massive new building next to the Langley Events Centre [Langley Advance Times]

🎨 A downtown Chilliwack wall is being prepared for the painting of a mural by a prominent artist [Amber Price/Facebook]

👉 The Lonzo Road encampment in Abbotsford has been fully cleared [Abbotsford News]

🚑 Police shot and killed a man in Fraser Canyon Hospital in Hope; the hospital was closed and the police watchdog is investigating [CBC]

🐩 A local poodle with pink hair has raised thousands of dollars for cancer research [Chilliwack Progress]

🏔 A 16-year-old Langley girl has gone missing in Golden Ears Park [Vancouver Is Awesome]

🌲 A prisoner at Kent Institution was hospitalized after being attacked by multiple fellow inmates [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

💻 Broadband internet has arrived in Yale, Dogwood Valley and several Fraser Canyon and Fraser Valley First Nations [Hope Standard]

🧗‍♂️ Fort Langley may be getting a parkour park soon, but the City of Langley already has one [City of Langley/Facebook]

📷 CURRENT CAM: Congrats to Debora, who was the first to identify Chilliwack’s Five Corners as the location of yesterday’s sneaky Current Cam photo.

☺ TODAY’S SMILE: A Nashville reporter interviewing fans before the NHL draft unknowingly quizzed Chicago’s general manager about his hockey knowledge [Penalty Box Radio/Twitter]

🎨 There's still time to take in the Harrison Festival of the Arts this year. July 7-16, there's something for everyone there.*

*Sponsored Listing

SPONSORED BY FORT LANGLEY JAZZ & ARTS FESTIVAL

Jazz legends open Fort Langley Jazz Fest

Kick off the 2023 Odlum Brown Fort Langley Jazz & Arts Festival with a concert you won’t forget, featuring Phil Dwyer’s Connections Quartet.

Phil Dwyer’s Connections Quartet brings together premier musicians in a one-of-a-kind concert including JUNO-award winner, saxophonist and pianist, Phil Dwyer; Juno-award winner Brad Turner on trumpet and piano; renowned international drummer Alan Jones; and Phil’s son, Ben Dwyer on bass.

The quartet will perform new and other works from over 40 years of playing in various configurations together. This illustrious group of artists will perform as two trios and a quartet, all in one with Phil and Brad taking turns at the piano with their alter egos performing on saxophone and trumpet.

Thursday, July 20, 7-10pm at Chief Sepass Theatre! Get your tickets today!

The Agenda

Township supports Gloucester development but passes buck on wetland decision

Langley Township council paved the way for a controversial development proposal to move ahead in Gloucester Industrial Park.

On Monday, council considered a development plan from Vancouver real estate developer Beedie Group to have 37 acres of the land in Gloucester Industrial Park redesignated for industrial use. As part of the application, an additional 55 acres of environmentally protected land would be transferred to the Langley Township and the proponent would pay $14 million to the Township’s Community Amenity Contribution fund.

The application has drawn heavy criticism from environmentalists who have asked the complex ecosystem be left undisturbed.

At Monday’s council meeting, Mayor Eric Woodward proposed a revision to the original application asking council to consider leaving the decision to rezone the property to the province and instead vote on the amendments to the community plan.

“We’re being requested by the proponent to effectively grant third reading for some percentage of acreage, subject to provincial approval… and so why not have the province adjudicate the concerns raised around wetlands and preservation and conservation?”

Coun. Kim Richter asked council to consider deferring Woodward’s new proposal. The mayor’s Contract With Langley slate defeated Richter’s request. Woodward’s request that council only consider the amendments to the community plan was approved with Couns. Margaret Kunst and Richter opposed. Council voted to update the community plan, with Richter and Kunst opposed. Steve Ferguson was absent from Monday’s meeting.

Pigeon avian flu risk ‘comparably negligible,’ top vet says

Yesterday we published a story about Gurbir Brar’s attempt to get pigeons legalized in Abbotsford residential areas. The city’s agricultural advisory committee didn’t like the proposal, citing the risk of avian flu. A local vet, though, said pigeons don’t pose a serious avian influenza threat. We asked the province’s agriculture ministry, which has responsibility for limiting animal-based diseases, for its top veterinarian’s thoughts on the matter. (BC’s Animal Health Centre is located in Abbotsford.)

Yesterday, they provided the following statement, which agrees that pigeons aren’t a major avian flu concern:

“BC egg and poultry farmers have shown great resolve and dedication in implementing biosecurity measures on their farms, and that will continue in the seasons and years ahead,” Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Theresa Burns said. “While there is always the risk of bird-to-bird transmission amongst domestic flocks, the main source of HPAI infection in BC and throughout Canada has been migrating infected waterfowl, with many studies over the last 80 years indicating the risk of transmission via domestic pigeons is comparably negligible. With the spring waterfowl migration over, the next high-risk period is anticipated to be the migration this fall, and the BC government will continue to work with producers, industry and federal partners to ensure on-farm biosecurity measures and response plans are in place, so British Columbians can continue to have a stable, local food supply.”

Throwback Thursday

Seventy-five years ago, kids across British Columbia hit the streets to protest price increases to chocolate bars from five cents to eight cents. In Abbotsford, protesters held signs like “HECK with 8¢ BARS.”

Photographs of the protest are among those included in the Reach Gallery’s photo archives. (Tyler wrote about the candy bar strike photos and the archives in 2015.)

In 2021, a BC author wrote a children’s book about the strike.

You can browse the Reach’s archives here.

🗓 Things to do

Ongoing

• Farmer’s market: The Abbotsford Farm & Country Market takes place every Saturday morning at Jubilee Park until late October.

Thursday

• Indie rock: Naxx and Semi Athletic perform at Red Chillies in downtown Chilliwack at 7:30pm. Tickets online.

• Garden art: City of Abbotsford artist-in-residence Alexandra Richards hosts a free workshop on growing and caring for flowers outside at the Kariton Gallery garden studio at 9am. Details online.

• Drag racing: Mission Raceway Park hosts Doorwarz11, with testing starting Thursday, qualifying Friday, and racing Saturday and Sunday. Details online.

Friday

• Youth Pow Wow: The second annual Reclaiming Youth Pow Wow on the grounds of the old St. Mary's Residential School in Mission will take place this weekend. The event is hosted by VYPER - Visionary Youth Peers for Equity & Revitalization. Details online.

• Bats!: Kilby Historic Site welcomes people to spend time with the bats in its belfry. Details online.

Weekend

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