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 • W E D N E S D AY, A U G U S T 2 0 , 2 0 1 4
‘Harmony on the river’ amid sockeye salmon chaos
■ F LIGHT F EST F ANCY
Jennifer Feinberg The Progress
Continued: PEACE/ p10
Bud Granley flies his Harvard aircraft through the sky during the 23rd annual Chilliwack Flight Fest Airshow on Sunday. Go online to theprogress.com/community for more photos. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
Parents get website guide to teacher strike Tom Fletcher Black Press
Fraser River Peacemakers co-chairs Ernie Crey and Rod Clapton were promoting safety at Island 22 on Saturday. JENNIFER FEINBERG/ PROGRESS
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The B.C. government has launched a new website to prepare parents for a possible continuation of the teacher strike after Labour Day. The website, bcparentinfo. ca, promises the latest bargaining updates on B.C.’s festering teacher dispute, and will act as a portal for parents registering to collect $40 a day for each child under 12 if the strike drags on. It also offers links to online
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learning resources from school districts, which have proliferated in recent years. Talks have continued under a media blackout since mediator Vince Ready met the two sides last week. “Mr. Ready agreed to monitor the situation, and to resume exploratory talks or commence full mediation when he believes it will be productive,” the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and B.C. Public School Employers’ Association said in a brief statement.
SERIOUS PROTECTION DON’T BE FOOLED BY BRAND-”X”
Negotiations broke off and a full-scale strike and lockout ended the school year in June. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Kelleher met both sides earlier but declined to attempt mediation, after finding too large a gap between the two sides. Education Minister Peter Fassbender and BCPSEA chief negotiator Peter Cameron have maintained that the BCTF’s benefit demands remain far beyond those of other public
sector unions that have settled contracts. Also at issue is class size and special needs support, with BCPSEA’s latest offer rejected by the union and the latest of a series of court actions scheduled for this fall. Ready’s last involvement in the long-running series of teacher disputes was as an industrial inquiry commissioner in 2007. At that time he recommended that a senior provincial official be involved in talks along with an independent mediator.
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Sockeye season is in full swing. So it was seen as perfect timing Saturday for a Harmony on the River event at Island 22, organized by the Fraser River Peacemakers. It was a chance to underline the importance of wearing PFDs, and ways to avoid in-river conflicts. They talked about catch monitoring and strategies to reduce crowding in the hotspots. Peacemaker co-chairs Ernie Crey and Rod Clapton were among those greeting fishermen and the public for several hours by the river near Chilliwack over the weekend. “The traffic has been steady,” said Clapton, president of the B.C. Federation of Drift Fishers. Fishermen were showing up in droves at Island 22 Regional Park Saturday to bag the recreational limit of two sockeye per day on that part of the river. Pickup trucks were coming and going all day long, with boat trailers in tow, from the boat launch. Promoting peace and safety on the Fraser is paramount — especially during sockeye season, said Peacemakers co-chair Ernie Crey, also a Cheam band councillor. “Both fisheries are growing, and sharing the same waters and fishing