Tuesday, August 8, 2023 - Life as a newcomer

Tuesday, August 8, 2023 | 🌥 High 22C

Good morning!

Recently, I was in Kamloops, where I visited that town’s Busker Festival with the family. We had a super time watching a variety of comedians, acrobats, and other professional street performers. During each show, the performers spent a small-but-significant amount of time explaining that they expected audience members to pay some money—often around $10—at the end of the show, if they were able to do so. They reminded people that they wouldn’t be able to do their jobs if their audiences didn’t contribute at the end. One guy, whose big thing was catching a cabbage on his head (and telling jokes), explained his spiel this way: “Once, I didn’t ask and make this speech and nobody paid.”

At the end of each half-hour show, a huge percentage of the audience headed to the stage to do their part to support the entertainers. Near the end of the third performance, I realized I could learn from the flame-juggling Australian acrobats on stage.

Now I can barely cross my legs, so anything involving actually bending was out. But I am kind of like a busker. Ads don’t cover the cost of The Current. (If you want an ad, get in touch!) We really do rely on those dropping money in our metaphorical hat to keep us going. Many have already done their part by becoming Insider members. That’s the easiest and best way to help us. But if you want to drop a chunk into a hat all at once, we have a page here where you can make a one-time contribution. We think about $10 for each month of The Current—more than 20 editions!—is good value. You can pay in advance or, if you’d like, for the past months you’ve read. Anything will help.

Please don’t make me start taking clown classes on the side.

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

Life as a newcomer

Being the new kid at school is never easy. Starting a new job is never easy. But starting life anew in a foreign country is a feeling known by few.

It's been eight years since journalist and activist Shanga Karim fled her home in Kurdistan, in northern Iraq. Her early days of settling in Abbotsford were positive—for the most part. But when she reflects on that time, one particular exchange “still stays in her memory”: purchasing a new cell phone.

Karim’s interaction with the sales agent was “welcoming” until he read her identification, which labelled her as a refugee. Then, Karim recalled, the man’s demeanor changed. He disappeared to the back of the store only to return to ask her to leave.

“It was very hard for me. It was very hurtful at that time,” Karim recently told podcast hosts Sumaiyyah Adam and Darien Johnsen. “When I go back to that time, I’m like wow how can he do that.”

Karim is one of eight local women who have shared their immigration story in Adam and Johnsen’s new podcast, which was produced by Abbotsford’s Archway Community Services.

The project aims to be a gateway to help listeners understand the strain, strength, and success of newcomers with the hope of fostering community.

The stories have offered co-host Adam a particularly unique perspective.

“It was such a growing moment for myself as a second generation Canadian,” she told The Current. “Being a racialized individual myself, I can think back to every single story and I have a standout moment in each one.”

• Joti spoke with Adam on the motivation behind the Stories of Resiliency podcast and how her lived experience as a child of immigrants sparked her interest in the work she does today.

• Listen to the stories of all eight women at the podcast here.

Need to know

🚴‍♀️ The Fraser Valley Regional District is drafting a transportation plan to support more active lifestyles [Abbotsford News]

🛑 A Langley traffic company was ordered to pay $1.5 million in a defamation lawsuit [Langley Advance Times]

🚐 BC should plan to operate Fraser Valley transit rather than leave it in the hands of a for-profit company, a university professor says [CBC]

🚔 Abbotsford police are investigating a shooting that happened Saturday [AbbyPD]

🛠 Kent’s Schep Park playground is closed until October for resurfacing [KentBC1/Twitter]

🚑 A motorcyclist reportedly fell into Harrison Lake after being struck by a truck Sunday [Agassiz Harrison Observer]

📉 Langley home sales declined last month [Langley Advance Times]

👎 Neighbours of a Columbia Valley farm aren’t impressed with the poor attempt to remove garbage from the property after its owner was issued a stop-work order by the ALC [Vancouver Sun]

👮🏻‍♀️ A serious crash in Langley involving a motorcycle on Saturday is under investigation [Global]

The Agenda

Abbotsford and Mission enact strict water usage rules

Abbotsford and Mission enacted Stage 3 water restrictions Friday, banning all residents from watering lawns, refilling pools, washing cars and boats, and using recirculating water features. Golf courses won’t be able to water fairways, and only those commercial car washes with recirculating systems will be able to operate.

The move comes after a hot, dry summer. It’s not the hottest nor the driest summer on record, but the water issues have been compounded by an extremely warm and dry spring, along with very high water usage in Abbotsford specifically.

Data through mid-June showed that water usage had been level in Mission, but was up 11% in Abbotsford. In May and June specifically, demand was about 30% higher than the previous year across the entire system. Much of that increase was attributable to sharply higher usage in Abbotsford.

There should be enough water to get Abbotsford through the summer and fall.

A city spokesperson says Dickson Lake, the city’s key reservoir, isn’t abnormally low yet. But the city isn’t taking its chances.

“Past experience, particularly that of the 2021 heat dome event, emphasized the importance of demand management practices being proactive and preventive, and the need to consider factors known to result in rapid increases in consumption, such as drought and heat,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Even in 2006, when Dickson Lake reached its lowest level ever, it still had about half its licensed water storage remaining. But there are costs to the low levels. The lake’s level is now near the point where gravity stops sending water south into the Norrish Creek water treatment system. To get water from Dickson to Norrish Creek will require pumps that cost the city—and taxpayers—money to operate. (Two years ago we explained how the Norrish Creek water system operates. You can read that story.)

🔓️ Become a Current Insider for 25% off today and get full access to this newsletter (and everything else we produce).

Want to promote your business to 30,000+ engaged locals?

Contact our partnerships team today

Have a tip? Email us