Tuesday, May 16, 2023 — Bad year. Great neighbours.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | ☀ High 28C | Forecast | Air quality advisory

Good morning!

Today's touching story got its start when Arlene, one of our devoted readers, filled out our Community Profile form. Our weekly reader profiles are something we're trying to get off the ground and Arlene got in touch to nominate her friend Donna. I gave Arlene a call for some basic information, but the next thing you knew, I had a full-blown tale of neighbours helping neighbours on my hands.

Whether or not you have quite a touching story like Arlene's, we really want to keep showcasing more of you in our community profile features, so fill out this form! Don't be shy!

You may know that our Grace Giesbrecht hails from Fort St. John, which is under evacuation alert. Her family actually lives just outside of town and while they dealt with a wildfire scare earlier, they’re thankfully out of the way of the current blaze threatening town. We’re wishing all the best for other residents though. We’ll have a story later this week about why southern BC’s fire season is so different from that in the northeast.

Thanks to new members Jayden and Joan! You can support our work by becoming a member here.

NEWS

Bad year. Great neighbours.

Arlene Wyenberg had a difficult 2022. But let’s not dwell on that; Arlene definitely doesn’t.

No. Call up Arlene, and you won’t hear much about her husband’s death last year or her diagnosis with incurable bone cancer just months later. Instead, you’ll hear all about some of the best neighbours around.

• Today, Tyler talks to Arlene about the value of good friends and a new community at a difficult time.

Need to know

✈🚨 WestJet pilots have issued a 72-hour strike notice and could walk off the job Friday [CBC]

👉 Several Fraser Canyon First Nations have called for artifacts to be returned to Yale Historic Site by the society that had, until recently, operated the site [Hope Standard] / The Current wrote about the dispute over the site’s administration last week [FVC]

🚒 A large townhome fire in Langley severely damaged burned four homes and displaced 11 people [Global]

❌ The heat is slowing down recycling collection in Mission; if your material doesn’t get picked up, put it out the next morning [City of Mission]

🔥 A forest fire north of Mission grew to 17.5 hectares in size by Monday afternoon [Mission Record]

🚔 Police seized 16 guns and 5.5 kilograms of drugs from buildings in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, and Burnaby [Abbotsford News]

🌉 Engineers inspected the Mission Bridge Monday after reports of buckling on the road surface; huge traffic back-ups ensued [Twitter]

🏃‍♀️ Registration for Langley’s Active Beyond The Bell after-school activity program takes place this week [Langley Township]

🌲 Sunday was the hottest May day in Chilliwack on record [Chilliwack Progress]

⚖ An Abbotsford driver who fled from police in a stolen car earlier this year will spend two more weeks in prison [Abbotsford News]

❗ Police are investigating after several dead cats were found on the lawn of the same Chilliwack home earlier this month [Chilliwack Progress]

🎉 The Cloverdale Rodeo and Country Fair is happening this weekend! Get your tickets while you can, and join us for a country-filled long weekend.*

*Sponsored Listing

The Agenda

Violent crime rates tick up across most of valley

Violent crime rates in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley and Mission all rose over the first three months of 2023 compared to the previous year.

Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Mission all saw double-digit increases of between 11% and 15% according to police database figures included in a recent report to Abbotsford council. Langley saw a relatively small 3% increase. Violent crime rates in Chilliwack and Mission were about twice those of Abbotsford and Langley.

Property crime, on the other hand, declined everywhere except Chilliwack, according to the figures. Abbotsford has the region’s lowest property crime rate, Langley and Mission are slightly higher, and Chilliwack has the highest property crime rate.

Chilliwack to consider annual transit operating agreement

Though bus drivers remain on strike throughout the Fraser Valley, decisions on plans and funding for transit in Chilliwack will still be made.

Chilliwack council will consider the city’s annual operating agreement with the province for the city’s transit system at Tuesday’s meeting. The agreement will set out the fees, routes, and funding for both standard routes and HandyDart services in the city for the next 12 months. No transit expansion is scheduled for this year.

Chilliwack’s share of the operating costs is $3.7 million. Local costs are offset by about $1.1 million in fares, bus passes, and advertising, as well as some provincial pandemic-recovery funding. BC Transit pays an additional $3.4 million in transit costs.

Council will also consider funding for a pride festival in the city, along with a temporary permit for a new dog groomer.

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