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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, D E C E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 5
‘Renewed relationship’ welcomed by Sto:lo leaders Jennifer Feinberg The Progress Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is calling for nothing less than a total renewal of the relationship between Canada and First Nations. “I will be your partner,” the PM told First Nations leadership at the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting in Gatineau Tuesday morning. And that was refreshing to the ears of local Sto:lo leaders, such as Doug Kelly, Clem Seymour, and Ernie Crey, who all said they have waited for this moment for a very long time. Grand Chief Doug Kelly and Chief Seymour were in Gatineau, QC this week to hear the PM’s speech, and attend AFN meetings. “It was like a real breath of fresh air,” said Seabird Chief Clem Seymour about the speech to The Progress. “Sitting down and making education a priority, well that is the number one priority for us, the health of our people is number two, and the inquiry into missing and murdered women is number three.” In terms of the MMIW inquiry, Seymour said, “the people want to know.” Grand Chief Doug Kelly, who is chair of the Sto:lo Tribal Council, and First Nations Health Council, said the impact of the PM’s words was “to restore the dignity of First Nations peoples.” Trudeau was hailed for saying that he simply couldn’t do the work alone, and asked directly for help of FN. “He offered to partner with us in the work of creating healthy, self-determining, independent First Nations communities and governments. Continued: SPEECH/ p4
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Drenching rain, and a deliberate act of vandalism couldn’t dampen spirits Saturday evening as residents lined the streets for the annual Rotary Santa Claus Parade. GREG KNILL/ PROGRESS
Fire and rain can’t spoil Christmas parade Sam Bates The Progress Despite the rain, the Rotary Christmas Parade brought thousands to the streets of downtown Chilliwack in the evening of Saturday, Dec. 5. The route was packed as the floats made their way through the downtown core one by one. But Santa almost didn’t make it to the show. Shortly after 2 a.m on Dec. 5, AJ Hutchinson posted a photo to a Chilliwack Facebook group of a float in flames, with the caption, “Put out a fire tonight on my way home. Why would someone light the Santa float for the Christmas
Parade on fire the night before the parade? Not so nice…” In a conversation with The Progress, Hutchinson said that he was on his way home when he saw something burning in the back parking lot of Chilliwack Secondary School (CSS). According to CSS teacher and float designer Steve Anderson, students had been building Santa’s float on Friday evening, finishing up around 11 p.m. They then unplugged everything, stowed the generator and headed home, with the expectation that they were ready for the parade the following day. When Hutchinson and his friends realized what was burn-
ing, they “took immediate action” to put it out. They started pulling off pieces of cotton ‘snow’ and stomped out the flames. “[We] had to put the fire out,” Hutchinson said. “Couldn’t have that many children disappointed at the parade.” Hutchinson’s friend called 911 to report the fire while he continued to stomp out remaining flames. Fortunately, the fire was put out while it was still relatively small, so it was mostly contained to the back of the float. Assistant Chief of the Chilliwack Fire Department, Fire Prevention Mike Bourdon said that crews were called to the scene to assess
the damage. “Someone had maybe lit the cotton as they walked by,” Bourdon said. “There was no damage to the vehicle.” But there was still a lot of repair work to be done on the float. Around 8 a.m. on Saturday, Anderson saw a plethora of texts and phone calls from students and friends telling him what they had seen and read on Facebook. By 8:30 a.m., Anderson was at the scene checking out the damage. “It was burnt,” he said. “In effect, all the Christmas lights from a quarter of the way back [on the truck] and all the Continued: PARADE/ p4
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