Monday - April 22, 2024 - Excluded from school

☀ High 16C

Good morning!

I love hockey pools. Or at least the one hockey pool I participate in. Ours brings a group of friends and journalism-linked acquaintances together in a mutual competition over which we have little actual power or control. It helps us get invested in games and teams and players you wouldn’t normally care a bit about. And it also enables a person to brag without worrying about coming off like a jerk—because being a jerk to your poolmates is the whole point. So to Ben, Ken, Matt, Mike, Adam, Pat, Scott, Paul, and Darren: thanks for your money (yet again). Let’s reconvene next year.

– Tyler

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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 staffing shortages are stopping some Mission kids from going to school

When education assistants are sick in Mission, sometimes kids who need full-time support are asked to stay home. 

Education assistants work with kids who need extra help in the classroom. A student may need an EA for a variety of reasons, ranging from ADHD and autism spectrum disorders to complex conditions that require caregivers with medical training.

But there aren’t enough EAs to go around and, specifically, there are not enough casual or temporary EAs to cover for the full-time assistants when they’re off work.

It’s now a regular occurrence for the district to tell parents to keep their children at home because of a lack of EA support, according to parents.

The Mission School District has confirmed that this year has seen an increase in the frequency of kids being told to stay home for a lack of support. But it also says it doesn’t keep data on the exact frequency.

• Today, Grace Giesbrecht writes about what happens when there aren’t enough EAs.

Related

Need to Know

🌲 Scientists are finding climate change worsens mental health through trauma and "eco-anxiety" [Nature]; The Current wrote about the mental health impacts of the Fraser Valley floods back in 2022 [FVC]

🔎 The death of a 63-year-old man earlier this month in Abbotsford is ‘suspicious,’ and police are seeking witnesses [CTV]

🚌 TransLink says adding buses in Langley is a priority [Langley Advance Times]

🚨 A female pedestrian was struck and killed on Highway 11 late Saturday night [Global]

👉 A former Chilliwack School Board trustee was ejected from a meeting for transphobic remarks about a sitting trustee [Chilliwack Progress]

🎾 Langley tennis players don’t want courts converted for pickleball [Langley Advance Times]

🚢 The Chilliwack Metropolitan Orchestra is putting on a Titanic-inspired concert complete with a water gong [Chilliwack Progress]

⚡ A single-vehicle car crash in Aldergrove that cut power to more than 100 homes may have been caused by an impaired driver [Aldergrove Star]

🏢 Luxury awaits at 900 Carnarvon Street. Limited time offer: Enjoy one-month free rent! Experience urban sophistication with premium amenities and a prime location.*

🌷 Spring is in Colourful Swing! Botanica Tulip Festival Now Open in Chilliwack! Tickets Range from $10-$20, Kids (0-4) are Free Entry.*

*Sponsored Listing

The Agenda

Spuzzum resort would be a new city—and require city-like governance, FVRD staff warn

Spuzzum First Nation’s proposal to build a new ski resort in a remote valley will require planning for the construction of a new city, Fraser Valley Regional District staff warn.

Spuzzum’s proposal—which The Current covered earlier this year—envisions a large resort with not only a golf course, resort area, and nearly a dozen ski lifts, but also thousands of homes constructed in the South Anderson River watershed. The proposal needs the sign-off of provincial resort authorities. And they have now asked the Fraser Valley Regional District for its feedback on a project.

At the moment, the resort would be located within the FVRD’s electoral area B, and is going through a “Resort Master Plan” process. But in a report set to be presented to FVRD directors this week, staff warn that the province should immediately start thinking about how such a resort will be governed upon completion.

“It must be emphasized that the project involves the development of a new small city,” staff write. FVRD staff warn that the new community would require the provision of utilities, fire protection, transit, parks, emergency management services, and municipal-like infrastructure and staffing. Those matters are traditionally handled by a local government. FVRD staff say a resort would require an official community plan. Their report doesn’t pan the proposal, but it warns that the province should study possible governance options for any such resort, including Indigenous self-government, adding the land to a reserve, or the creation of a resort municipality.

We talked to Spuzzum Chief James Hobart in January about the proposal and why he thinks it would address environmental challenges in the area. FVC Insider Members can read that story here. 

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🤝 Now hiring

• Financial analyst at The People Co. in Langley

• In-hospital replenishment supervisor at various Fraser Valley hospitals

• Granthi at Bridges of Canada in Mission

• Supervisor at Marbleslab Creamery in Chilliwack

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

🗓 Things to do

Bison tours: Academy Farms in Langley is offering bison farm tours April 27, May 11, and May 25. Proceeds go to an addiction treatment centre. Details online.

Online panel: Three experts coming together for an online panel on Indigenous food forests on April 23. Register online.

Artist live podcast: Coast Salish artist Carrielynn Victor will present her art and discuss it during a live taping of Aaron Pete’s Bigger Than Me Podcast to coincide with National Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21. Details and tickets, which include food and drinks, are online.

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Catch up

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