THE WEDNESDAY
AUG. 6, 2014
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
TRI-CITY NEWS
www.tricitynews.com
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2012
Old cars are still running
Following her father
SEE PAGE 3
SEE ARTS, PAGE 16
INSIDE
Tom Fletcher/10 Letters/11 Community Calendar/15 Sports/19
If strike continues, programs will, too By Diane Strandberg THE TRI-CITY
Ta l k s b e t w e e n the BC Teachers’ Federation and the province’s public schools bargaining body are supposed to resume on Friday but Tri-Cities recreation departments are planning fall day programs for children and youth in the event the school strike continues past Labour Day. Port Moody, Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam all report plans are in the works to provide extended summer programming into September. Parents are encouraged to visit city websites and Facebook pages to keep abreast of programs that might be available for their youngsters should teachers continue to stay off the job through the first few weeks of September. School is supposed to resume Sept. 2 but, just in case there are no classes, the city of Coquitlam will provide day camps at Pinetree and Poirier rec centres as well as Victoria Park Hall. Port Coquitlam plans to extend summer programs for the first two weeks of September, including arts and cultural programs, and programs for youth. As well, the city will keep its outdoor pools open, said Glenn Mitzel, PoCo’s recreation manager. The city of Port Moody is still working out the details of its contingency plan for the fall but will have programs in place in case of further school disruption, said Ron Higo, general manager of community services. dstrandberg@tricitynews.com
STEVE SMITH PHOTO
Port Coquitlam photographer Steve Smith had to combine a keen eye with a fast shutter speed to capture this image of an Anna’s hummingbird in his garden drinking from a crocosmia flower. “Hummingbirds are notoriously hard to photograph, so it took a lot of patience hiding behind a bush in the hot sun to finally get this.”
Chief talks to nation More to come on Kwikwetlem head By Janis Warren THE TRI-CITY NEWS
A large and unusual kayak left its longtime home in Belcarra last Friday morning to head south to Bellingham: see story, page 12
An update about the Kwikwetlem First Nation chief’s big pay day is expected to be issued tomorrow (Thursday) after the 81-member Coquitlam band was thrust into the national spotlight last week when it was revealed Chief Ron Giesbrecht had earned
$914,000 last year. Last Friday, the band released a media statement stating Giesbrecht “is accountable to members of the Kwikwetlem First Nation and is taking time to talk to them now and over the coming days.” It also stated Giesbrecht will undergo “unavoidable medical treatment” this week. The band confirmed the numbers made public under the First Nations Financial
Transparency Act, a new federal regulation that requires bands to post their financial data. As chief, Giesbrecht earns $4,800 annually plus another $80,000 as economic development officer. Last year, he also had $16,574 in expenses and collected a lucrative $800,000 “economic development” bonus as part of a 10% cut from an $8-million land deal in Coquitlam. All bonuses were removed from his contract
on April 1, the band stated. In March, the provincial government sold 370 acres on Burke Mountain as part of its disposal of Crown assets to balance the books. In an interview with The Tri-City News last Friday, Glen Joe, a Kwikwetlem elder and the band’s chief in 1992, claimed the land deal was a payment by the province before it put the acreage on the block. see JOE CALLS, page 6