The Chilliwack
Progress Tuesday
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3
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Reconciliation
Recycling
Football
Healing the hurts of residential schools.
Cities get more time for input.
Local football squads see action.
Life
News
Sports
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 1 7 , 2 0 1 3
Trustee resignation leaves board with six
■ A DVENTURE C HALLENGE
Katie Bartel The Progress
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Racers laugh as they turn a tight corner while competing in the Adventure Challenge for Kids, a multi-sport fundraiser for the Canucks for Kids Fund at Cultus Lake on the weekend. The event saw 80 competitors from the Fraser Valley race in Chilliwack on Saturday, and more than 170 people race in Vancouver on Sunday. The fundraiser featured kayaking, trail running and cycling, and each of the 250-plus people competing in the event raised a minimum of $1,000. The Canucks for Kids Fund will distribute the funds to Canuck Place Children’s Hospital and 60 Minute Kids’ Club. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Park Board employee facing fraud charges Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Cultus Lake Park Board’s manager of financial services, who was placed on forced leave and is facing fraud charges, allegedly misrepresented his professional credentials, says a concerned resident. Cultus Lake leaseholder Rick Williamson said email correspondence regularly sent out by Siamak Saidi on behalf of the Park Board indicated he was a chartered accountant (CA), as well as chartered management accountant (CMA).
But Chartered Management Accountants B.C. spokesman Rick Lightheart told The Progress that Saidi was never qualified to use the designation of CMA. “When I was advised that this individual was using the CMA designation, I wrote him a cease and desist letter in late August,” said Lightheart. The letter pointed out that the use of the CMA designation is protected by provincial statute, and only to be used by certified members of the CMABC society. Saidi was only a student member from 2001-02, he added. Last week the Chartered
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Accountants of B.C. ran an ad in a Vancouver daily newspaper, saying Saidi could not use his company, Siamak Saidi Limited to conduct public accounting. “Siamak Saidi Ltd. is not and has never been licensed to carry on the practice of public accounting in British Columbia,” the ad reads. “As such Siamak Saidi Ltd. is not entitled to use the designation ‘Chartered Accountant’ or used the initials ‘CA’ signifying that designation, and Siamak Saidi, CA is not authorized to carry on the practice of public accounting at or in association with Siamak Saidi
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Ltd., or otherwise.” Park board chair Sasha Peter refused to say if Saidi is currently on paid or unpaid leave from his position at the Park Board. Last month, Simon Fraser University filed a civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court, alleging he submitted false invoices in his previous job as finance director in the faculty of science at Simon Fraser University. The civil suit states that Saidi’s alleged actions have damaged the university. “Saidi’s wrongful conduct was directed at SFU for the purpose of
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Chilliwack Board of Education has requested the Ministry of Education allow the district to operate with six trustees instead of seven for the remainder of the term. After nine months of medical leave, former Board Chair Louise Piper issued her resignation with the board on Aug. 23. Typically the school district would be required to hold a byelection as per section 36 of the school act. (Had Piper waited until 2014 to resign, a byelection would not be required as it would have fallen within an election year.) But because the current board is nearing the end of its term with the next election in November 2014, and because of the costs a byelection would incur, “we are currently in correspondence with Minister of Education Peter Fassbender requesting the extraordinary circumstances of our school district be considered,” said Board Chair Walt Krahn. “The rationale behind that is we are very close to the end of this term … we also are so very, very aware of costs, we want to avoid the cost of conducting a byelection.” Krahn would not go into specifics of how much a byelection would cost as it will be discussed at the public board meeting Tuesday evening. The Chilliwack board has been operating unofficially with six trustees since last December when Piper first took medical leave. And while the workload has increased significantly, Krahn is confident district operations will not be impeded if the board is allowed to continue as is.
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