Wednesday - Dec. 13 - How to be an advocate

☁ High 5C

Good morning!

I grew up without a dish-washer. Or rather, I grew up as the dishwasher. So I’m very familiar with how you can live relatively comfortably without a machine washing every plate. Laundry, on the other hand… I remember my first time lugging my clothes downstairs to an apartment laundry room. It wasn’t hard. But it was the type of chore that seemed like one should avoid at all costs.

I’m thinking of this because some journalism colleagues recently got into a big (friendly) argument over the very question of what they would rather live without, a dishwasher or in-suite laundry.

So I’m very curious as to just how common my view is. Already, mom has told me I’m wrong.

– Tyler

This newsletter exists because of the support of Fraser Valley Current Insider members. Join them for just $2/week and help support local journalism. Or advertise to show our readers you support our efforts to educate and inform.

Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

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

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

NEWS

How to be an advocate

So there you are, just an ordinary frustrated citizen, wanting to give your city a kick in the pants.

What do you do? How do you convince a municipality, or the elected leaders who supposedly run it, to do the things you think it should do? In other words, how does one become an advocate?

Recently, we spoke to two former prominent advocates who now sit on the other side of the fence. Langley City Mayor Nathan Pachal and New Westminster Mayor Patrick Johnstone started as blogger-advocates before winning political office.

You can read our story below.

During a joint interview for that story, we asked the two mayors about how their experience as vocal community advocates affects how they view public criticism. A handful of Current Insider members also sat in on our interview with Pachal and Johnstone and chimed in with their own questions—including one on the advice they’d give for anyone wanting to become community advocates.

So today, we’re sharing two mayors’ advice for getting the attention of local politicians.

Related

Need to Know

🚔 An Abbotsford man charged with a shooting in Ontario was out on bail at the time of the incident [Abbotsford News]

🆘 Significantly more people are visiting Langley’s food bank for help [Langley Advance Times]

👉 Another rise in homelessness in the Fraser Valley has led to another call to rethink the way governments aim to help people in need [Mission Record]

🔥 A house fire early Saturday morning is believed to have been deliberately set, police say [Abbotsford News]

⚡ Much of Hope was left without power Tuesday morning after a circuit failure [Hope Standard]

🩺 An Abbotsford woman who received breast cancer treatment in Bellingham said the experience showed just how overworked Canadian health care workers are [Vancouver Sun]

💄 A Sephora store appears destined for the Cottonwood Centre mall in Chilliwack [Chilliwack Progress]

🏎 A novice driver had their car impounded after being clocked going 142 km/h—in a school zone [Abbotsford Police]

🚑 The death of a man in downtown Chilliwack last week was not linked to a crime, police say [CityNews]

🚶‍♂️ A Mission teacher who walked 100km from the Fraser Valley to Vancouver has now lost more than 150 pounds since picking up the walking habit during the pandemic [CBC]

The Agenda

Abbotsford’s performing arts sector lacks support: report

Abbotsford’s performing arts sector needs more help to put it on par with other cultural and arts groups and endeavours in the city.

That’s the verdict from a new report commissioned for Abbotsford in advance of a new cultural strategy for the city. The consulting firm that wrote the report, Nordicity, found that performing arts infrastructure and programming support lags all other sectors in the city.

Nordicity wrote that while the city has two high-quality indoor performing spaces in the Abbotsford Arts Centre and Matsqui Centennial auditorium, there’s a notable lack of smaller spaces used for programming and performing.

There’s also little financial support, it said.

“Outside of funding the Abbotsford Arts Council the City is not active in delivering performing arts programming, though there is a high volume of community groups and private entities independently filling this service without City support,” Nordicity writes.

Only the heritage sector was rated as having comparably “basic” support. On the other end of the spectrum, support for libraries and other lifelong learning amenities was deemed to be “elite,” with Nordicity pointing to the city’s relationship with, and financial support for, the Fraser Valley Regional Library.

The visual arts, festival, and public arts sectors were all deemed to provide “enhanced” services that could be bolstered, but performed relatively well.

Correction

Yesterday’s piece on BC United’s new candidates incorrectly labelled the photo of Markus Delves as Mike de Jong. (The photo changed at the last minute and somehow we only altered half the cutline—we’ve met both parties and definitely know what they look like. But thanks to all who were unfailingly polite in letting us know about the error.) Our apologies!

Community journalism needs the entire community for it to succeed.

Become a Current member today and join 1,200+ other local supporters who help keep our lights on.

As part of a membership, you get our special weekend roundup of all the things you might’ve missed each week!

🤝 Now hiring

• Store worker at Value Village in Mission

• Front desk agent at Coast Hotels in Chilliwack

• Early childhood educator at Langley Community Services

• Assistant chocolatier at ChocolaTas Vancouver Chocolates in Abbotsford

• Archaeologist at Stó:lō Research & Resource Management Centre in Chilliwack

Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!

📸 Current Cam

Each week we showcase a different photo from across the valley and invite readers to share their best guesses about where it was taken.

Think you know where this week’s Current Cam was taken? Fill out this form.

Catch up

That’s it!

Thanks for reading Fraser Valley Current today ♥️ 

If you found something useful, consider forwarding this newsletter to another local.

And before you go, please let us know:

Help share The Current

Wouldn’t the Fraser Valley be better if more people had access to local, quality news – and didn’t have to rely on social media? Share The Current with your friends and help us build better communities.