Tuesday, April 25, 2023 edition — The value of a life

Tuesday, April 25, 2023 | 🌤️ High 14C | Forecast

Good morning!

When Tyler ran an “Ask-us-anything” article last month, one of you asked if any of us had pets. I didn’t then, but I’ve recently been pulled into the club.

My roommate just adopted a cat named Moon. My family had a few cats when I was younger, so I thought I knew what to expect. Those cats, though, were mostly wild, outdoor creatures who would show up every few days with dead birds and mysterious wounds.

Moon is not like those cats. He’s a lovely, spoiled little dude. He knows how to curl up on my lap when I’m reading (unlike the slightly-feral pets of my childhood) and doesn’t leave dead things at the front door, so I honestly can’t complain.

NEWS

The value of a life

Prison officials made multiple attempts to convince WorkSafeBC an officer’s death from COVID was not related to his job despite the provincial agency having already ruled it was a workplace fatality.

That’s according to John Randle, the president of the local union for prison guards.

In August 2021, a Mission Institute officer contracted COVID after escorting an inmate to an off-grounds hospital. Soon the infection became serious and the officer was admitted to hospital, where he later died.

The Vancouver resident left behind a wife and young daughter.

• Today, Joti writes about the family’s fight for Canada’s corrections agency to recognize the officer’s death as a workplace fatality.

Need to know

🚵 Abbotsford’s McKee Peak plan returned to city council yesterday [Abbotsford News]

🚔️ The Chilliwack killer who disappeared last week was rearrested in Vancouver [Global]

🪓 The Stihl Timbersports Nationals will be held in Chilliwack this year [Chilliwack Progress]

🚑️ Emergency room doctors are calling for better trauma centres in Fraser Health hospitals south of the river [CTV]

👉️ The Chilliwack School Board chair addressed a petition seeking her removal [Willow Reichelt/Twitter]

🚌 A man who randomly attacked another bus passenger in Abbotsford was sentenced to 67 days in prison [Abbotsford News]

🥗 Chilliwack’s Tydel Foods is starting a free meal assistance programs for seniors in need [Chilliwack Progress]

🗺️ Getting used to a new riding will pose challenges, according to politicians in Agassiz and the surrounding area [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

🌡️ Low temperatures broke a seasonal record in Agassiz last week [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

☺ TODAY’S SMILE: Find both classic and brand new New Yorker cartoons on the magazine’s official Instagram page dedicated solely to its funny pages [New Yorker/Instagram]

The Agenda

Chilliwack will start using app-based emergency alert system

Chilliwack council will start using the Alertable app to contact residents during emergencies.

The app is already used by the Fraser Valley Regional District, Kent, Hope, Harrison Hot Springs, Mission, and Vancouver. The app can be downloaded onto almost all smartphones. Residents will also be able to sign up for texts, SMS messages, or phone calls via the city’s website.

The city would use the system to issue alerts when “the city is the alerting authority and requires information to be rapidly communicated to the public,” according to staff. So far the fire chief, emergency operations coordinator, and top city staff members will have the authority to issue an alert. (Neither the mayor nor the police chief can do so.)

To warrant an alert through the system, an event would have to be urgent, severe, certain, and local.

Permanent widespread uptake is not expected to be high: other municipalities, staff noted, have seen 5% to 15% of residents download the app and keep it on their phones. (The number of users jump during emergencies, but not every resident keeps the app after the danger has passed.)

The Alertable app is separate from emergency alerts issued by the provincial or federal governments. Those are issued largely for natural disasters—including flooding and wildfire evacuations, heat emergencies, tornadoes and thunderstorms—as well as police notifications like Amber alerts.

In 2021, we wrote about the Fraser Valley’s tangled web of emergency alert systems. Read that story here.

Enough First Nation consultation done on McKee plan, city insists

Abbotsford city officials insist they’ve adequately consulted with Sema:th First Nation during work on the McKee Neighbourhood Plan.

The controversial plan, which aims to guide the development of thousands of homes on Sumas Mountain but which has now twice been shelved, was re-introduced by council at its Monday meeting. It will once again be sent to other governments and the public for comments prior to another public hearing.

At the last hearing, a representative for Sema:th First Nation declared previous consultation efforts to have been insufficient. Sema:th considers the mountain to be a sacred place, has opposed previous development plans on it, and is specifically concerned about access to caves in the McKee peak area.

The city says that while consultation “has and will continue to be a priority” it has exceeded requirements of the Local Government Act. A spokesperson said the city had “15 interactions, including seven meetings” since 2017 with Sema:th concerning the plan, and had conducted an archeological assessment to catalogue specific sites of concern.

Abbotsford said its meetings have focused on the “protection of cultural heritage sites” along with a review of land use, environmental, and infrastructure aspects.

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