FRIDAY
JANUARY 17, 2014
GOOD TIMES
Country music act Florida Georgia Line visits Abbotsford on April 9. This story and more in the MyCity section. A15
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Highest unemployment
Chamber endorses economic plan as Abby/Mission rate tops B.C. metro areas Alina KONEVSKI Abbotsford News
The unemployment rate is highest in Abbotsford-Mission among all four B.C. metropolitan areas, according to December 2013 Statistics Canada data. An average of 7.8 per cent of the labour force in the Abbotsford-Mission Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) was unemployed during 2013. That’s a significant decline from the 8.9 per cent high in 2011, but only marginally lower than 2012’s
7.9 average. Meanwhile, the rates in Vancouver, Victoria, and Kelowna have fallen to below 7.0 per cent. The Abbotsford-Mission average unemployment rate for 2013 was also higher than all of the development regions, including Vancouver Island, Thompson/Okanagan, and the North Coast/Nechako. Allan Asaph, executive director of the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce, says that Abbotsford has a high number of seasonal employees, especially in agriculture, which
may cause higher annual average unemployment. Last year, unemployment was highest in Abbotsford-Mission from April to July. Asaph said the area is also attractive to people between jobs because of low living costs. And, Abbotsford-Mission has certain barriers to employment, such as insufficient public transport. “We were happy to see that council finally did approve the plan for moving forward with the regional district for bus service. I think that’s an important factor because we’re not well served Continued on A4
ATTENTION ON DRIVERS
Katie Falk a founding member of King Road Mennonite Church
A7 Police statistics compare
Contributed
Continued on A4
A4 City must complete Fraser River erosion repairs by the spring
Smiling at 103 Katie Falk, a long-time Abbotsford resident, celebrated her 103rd birthday on Jan. 10 at her home on the Menno Place campus. She was surrounded by her two surviving children and their families – along with her surviving girlfriends. Jostling for position, the elderly women joked and cajoled with each other. One introduced herself, laughingly, as “the best friend.” She took a seat close to Katie, saying that she was there when Katie had her first baby. Her eyes lit up as each friend, niece, grandchild and great-grandchild took their turn hugging and congratulating her on this special occasion. Katie was born in 1910 in the Ukraine, where her father was a pastor. She married in 1935 and fled the country during the Second World War shortly after her 18-month-old son died of starvation and dehydration. Before immigrating to Canada in 1948, she took refuge in Germany with her husband and two daughters. When they arrived in
HOLDING BACK THE RIVER
vehicle makes versus traffic tickets
INTERFAITH WEEK A11 Tours of church, temple and longhouse among local events
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Katie Falk (centre) celebrates her 103rd birthday with friends she has known for more than 70 years.
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