Wednesday - Feb. 28, 2024 - Insta-college

🌧 High 8C

Good morning!

What duty does a business like a credit union owe to the neighbourhoods where its branches are served? That’s a question I’m thinking about after Aaron Pete, a collaborator who—full disclosure—I now consider a friend, forwarded me a letter he wrote about the impending closure of Prospera Credit Union’s branch in downtown Chilliwack.

Aaron, who grew up a block from the branch and had his first bank account at the site, says its closure will make tackling poverty in the area harder, particularly on local First Nation reserves. You can read his full letter here.

Aaron’s concerns made sense to me, so I sent the letter to Prospera for their comments. I also asked if they could say “whether any actions have been taken to mitigate the impact on Prospera's Chilliwack clientele, particularly those people without vehicles and those who live on local reserves.”

Their reply, which you can read here, stresses users’ increasing use of online banking tools, the ability to use other institutions’ ATMS, and support for local programs.

I get both sides. The Internet has clearly changed how we deliver and access services—whether it be banking or journalism—and as we adapt, it will cause access problems for many. This case also prompts questions about how credit unions should deal with those, because credit unions aren’t your typical businesses. They are owned by their members, and generally exist not to make their owners profits, but to serve their members. There are no easy answers, but that’s what makes it worth thinking about.

– Tyler

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 the Fraser Valley’s
‘instant college’ was born

The year is 1973 and it has been more than a decade since Fraser Valley residents were told they deserved a college to call their own.

A suggested 1971 opening date two years earlier has come and gone—as has the government that initiated the overhaul of BC’s entire post-secondary system. Just last year, a plan for a vocational college in Chilliwack was sent to the trash bin by the province’s new education minister. Locals are unhappy and uncertain.

They not only still don’t have a college, they don’t even have an agreed-upon plan for a college. They don’t know if they have funding for a college.

What they do have, it turns out, is a collection of men and women who—once finally given the green light—will be able to create a college from scratch with a speed that seems impossible 50 years later.

• Let the race begin.

Part one

Need to Know

😲 A grenade was donated to Abbotsford’s Value Village, prompting police to urge people not to donate grenades to thrift stores [CityNews]

🦊 Two red panda cubs at the Greater Vancouver Zoo have been moved to other facilities [Langley Advance Times]

🥪 A new sub shop is opening in central Abbotsford [Abbotsford News]

🚔 A Mission driver hit three police cars while trying to flee [Mission Record]

🚧 Plans to close the Lickman Road rail crossing in Chilliwack today have been postponed [City of Chilliwack]

👉 A toy gun caused a brief lockdown at a Langley school Tuesday [Langley Advance Times]

🦌 A thriving elk population in the Fraser Valley may allow Sts’ailes First Nation to organize its first hunt in nearly 50 years [Vancouver Sun]

👮‍♂️ Charges have been dropped against an Abbotsford Police dog-handler who was charged after his dog bit a suspect [Abbotsford News]

🚆 A broken wheel caused a 2020 train derailment near Hope, the Transportation Safety Board says [CP] / You can read the detailed report and see photos of of the busted wheel here [TSB]

🚧 Langley’s busy 80th Avenue will be widened, with construction starting this summer [Langley Advance Times]

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The Agenda

Fraser Canyon campground goes to board

Fraser Valley politicians will vote tomorrow on whether to endorse a proposed new RV park in the Fraser Canyon midway between Hope and Yale. The owner of a 23-acre property hopes to create 47 RV sites and three manufactured home sites on the lot, which is located off of Dogwood Valley Road, a frontage road parallel to Highway 1.

At a public hearing in November, several local residents said they were opposed to the plans, with several citing concerns about the usage of water in the area. The Fraser Valley Regional District’s board of directors is set to make a decision at its Thursday meeting. Staff have recommended the project be allowed to proceed.

🤝 Now hiring

• Retirement planner at RBC in Abbotsford

• Flooring salesperson at Taiga Building Products in Langley

• Journeyman carpenter at Kiewit Canada for the Dewdney bridge project

• Public programs and events co-ordinator (part-time) at Chilliwack Museum & Archives

• Assistant manager at Dairy Queen in Hope

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.

🗓 Things to do

Baroque music: The Salish Sea Players perform Baroque music with recorder, renaissance flute, dulcian and viola as part of the Cheam Vista Concert Society's concert series March 5 at Riverside Christian Reformed Church in Agassiz. Tickets and details online.

Alzheimer support: The Alzheimer Society of BC is offering a fitness and social program for those with early stage dementia in the Abbotsford area. English-speaking and Punjabi-speaking programs start soon. To register for the English program call 604-853-4221; to register for the Punjabi program call 604-855-0500.

Ladies laughs: Fraser Valley Comedy presents Jest Ladies Comedy on March 8 (International Women's Day) at the HUB International Theatre at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre. Tickets and details online.

Have an event to tell us about? Fill out this form to have it highlighted here.

Catch up

That’s it!

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