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Only lakers should vote for board says petition
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Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
Susan and Gary Lister say they are fighting for democracy at Cultus Lake. Not enough voters realize there are seven Park Board commissioners, elected every three years to make decisions on the Cultus Lake Park Board. Here’s the rub: only two of them are voted in by Cultus Lake residents, with the remaining five voted in by Chilliwack residents. This has created an unfair situation, say some lake residents who are circulating a new petition. They are asking to have the Cultus Lake Park Act amended to make it only Cultus Lakers who can elect park board commissioners. “Many people in Chilliwack don’t even realize they are electing a board that is separate from Chilliwack, when they vote for the Cultus Lake Park Board,” Susan Lister said. “There is a lack of awareness, and a lack of accountability.” They collected signatures on a similar theme before, but not in an approved format that could be submitted to the provincial government. So they are redoing it. In just one day last week, Sue Lister said she obtained 70 signatures, from almost every one she met at the lake. “One of the issues is that Chilliwack doesn’t have to bear the consequences of what is decided here. So it doesn’t impact them.” They want to have the number of commissioners reduced from seven to five. The Listers are concerned that Park Board staff has ballooned to 11 people. “It was run for so long with a small staff. This is a summer resort town. It’s insane what’s happening and the money they’re spending,” said Lister. Their aim is to get the signatures in by July 26. jfeinberg@theprogress.com Twitter.com/chwkjourno
A boy prepares to plunge into the pool of water below after spinning around in circles on the Bazooka Bowls slide, one of the newest rides at Cultus Lake Water Park last week. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Dry rack fishery shut down early Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
The hot, dry winds of the Fraser Canyon are perfect for air drying sockeye salmon. Dry rack fishers and their families from several Sto:lo communities including Tzeachten, Skwah and Squiala were engaged in the ancient tradition last week. That is until federal fisheries shut them down after only a couple of days of fishing. A communal fishing licence for dry rack fishing was issued July 10 by DFO to
Lower Fraser bands. The sockeye were to be caught either in set nets or dip nets, for food, social, and ceremonial purposes. The dry rack licence allowed certain designated fishers, and their helpers, to harvest fish from the Fraser, processing and drying them on racks from fish camps above the river. The fishery was a little earlier than usual, but given the ideal weather earlier this month, it should have even started the week before, said Ernie Victor, fisheries manager for Sto:lo Nation, and co-chair of the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance. “The dry rack fishers, the families who
carry on this tradition, are unique,” said Victor. “It’s the way they dry the fish. What they’ve been holding onto is our culture.” The fishing licence was supposed to be in effect for a week, until July 17. But the fishery was actually shut down earlier than expected, after only a few days, because the sockeye run size was downgraded by the Fraser River Panel on July 12. The early Stuart run is quite threatened. “It’s always a guessing game,” said Continued: FISH/ p16
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