14 2013-20
The Chilliwack
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Y O U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R • F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 1 • W W W. T H E P R O G R E S S . C O M • T U E S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 3 , 2 0 1 3
Fraser salmon fishing resumes but not for sockeye Run size boosted to four million, 16 million pinks expected Jeff Nagel Black Press
Central elementary principal Jim Edgcombe holds the school’s new logo. The school is changing its mascot from the Sharks to the Sockeyes. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
New year, new look for Central Alina Konevski The Progress Students at Central Elementary will be waving a new flag this school year, one bearing a proud green logo of a sockeye salmon. This will replace the school’s longheld logo of a toothy shark. The school is also part of a district-wide initiative to paint welcome messages on its walls in Halq’eméylem, an aboriginal language traditional for the region but at risk of extinction. The initiatives are part of Central Elementary’s efforts to strengthen the sense of belonging
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that aboriginal students and the community feel at the school. When principal Jim Edgcombe crunched the numbers last year, he discovered that 48 per cent of the school’s 220 students are aboriginal. He felt that the school should work harder at fulfilling the three goals that the Chilliwack district set itself in 2010 to enhance education for aboriginal students. These are increasing aboriginal sense of belonging, increasing academic success, and improving understanding of language and culture for all students. The school is doing pretty well on the last two points, said
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Edgcombe, and is prioritizing the goal of belonging for this coming year. Already, Central Elementary has become a community hub for a long list of programs that encourage students, parents, and the community at large to get involved and stay connected to the school. “When you have a high level of parent support, you have a higher level of student success,” said Edgcombe. The Downtown (previously, Central) Gateway for Families program hosts a variety of social service organizations in the school’s
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basement during the week. The school also takes pride in encouraging the expression of traditional aboriginal arts and culture. There were three large aboriginal gamily gatherings last year, some with hundreds of attendees. The school also recruited an elderin-residence, Yvonne Tumangday from Sto:lo Nation, to spend time with the community. But it’s fostering a sense of belonging that is the final key, especially as many aboriginal students come from away and do not have a local band affiliation. Continued: STUDENTS/ p4
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An improving run of sockeye salmon returning to the Fraser River has prompted fishery managers to reopen fishing for other salmon species that had been closed to guard against any accidental bycatch of sockeye. Pacific Salmon Commission officials now estimate around four million sockeye are on track to return due to more fish arriving later than anticipated. That’s still below a pre-season forecast of 4.7 million but it’s much better than a few weeks ago when salmon watchers feared just two million would return. Recreational angling for chinook, pink and chum salmon opened Friday morning below Mission and for pink and chum above Mission Saturday morning. First Nations also have the goahead to fish for chinook, chum and pink on the lower Fraser for food, social and ceremonial purposes. A limited commercial fishery for pinks is also expected. Water temperatures have cooled somewhat from dangerously high levels earlier in the summer but fishery managers still expect 70 per cent of returning sockeye will die on their journey upriver to the spawning grounds. As a result, all of the fisheries are directed to release any sockeye that are caught. “We are getting early reports of fish arriving at the spawning grounds in good condition,” said Jeff Grout, DFO regional resource manager.