Abbotsford, Langley and Chilliwack residents can discover garden experiences this spring

Listen to this article 00:02:01

Warmer weather is coming, the sun is up for longer everyday and the flowers are beginning to bloom, so Gardens BC has put together itineraries to spend a great day visiting diverse garden experiences in Abbotsford, Langley and Chilliwack.

Gardens BC is a free online resource allowing people to discover the many hidden garden gems in the Fraser Valley, while also tying in food options, scenic walks and shopping.

“We just wanted to encourage people in different areas to realize the wealth of gardening experiences they have in their own backyard, or in the neighbouring region,” president of Gardens BC Geoff Ball says.

Abbotsford has 14 stops in one day; including well-established locations such as Tanglebank Gardens, Maan Farms and Tuscan Farm Gardens.

Langley also features 14 stops in one day; including resident-favourite Krause Berry Farms and Full Bloom Lavender Farm.

Chilliwack has 12 stops in one day; including Minter Country Garden and Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Gardens British Columbia (@gardens_bc)

The itineraries are merely a suggestion on how to spend a day in each city. Ball encourages participants to go about the locations as they wish.

Gardens BC started putting together itineraries last year, focusing on Vancouver Island and Vancouver. The Fraser Valley itineraries are new additions this spring.

Gardens BC highlights and promotes garden tourism destinations across the province. They also invest in public gardens, offering organizations the opportunity to become a Gardens BC member.

To read more about the itineraries visit gardensbc.com.

READ MORE: Easter egg hunt to kick off Chilliwack agri-tourism site’s 2024 season

Global News Hour at 6 BC

Abbotsford waiting for flood mitigation funding from federal government

More Videos

0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%

Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled

Play/PauseSPACE

Increase Volume↑

Decrease Volume↓

Seek Forward→

Seek Backward←

Captions On/Offc

Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf

Mute/Unmutem

Seek %0-9

Next Up

Global News Hour at 6 BC: April 28

facebook

twitter

Email

Linkhttps://globalnews.ca/video/10259106/abbotsford-waiting-for-flood-mitigation-funding-from-federal-government/

Copied

Embed<iframe src="https://globalnews.ca/video/embed/10259106/" width="670" height="372" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen scrolling="no"></iframe>

Copied

Live

00:00

00:00

00:00

After a weekend of rain that caused localized flooding, the City of Abbotsford, B.C., is renewing its call for federal dollars to help it prevent, prepare for, and mitigate a flooding disaster.

Mayor Ross Siemens said Monday that the city has not yet heard back from the federal government on the status of its $1.6-billion infrastructure application under the Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund.

“We are doing our level best. We’ve done everything we possibly can at the municipal level, it now is with the province and the federal government,” Siemens told Global News. “Very frustrating.”

2:24

It’s been more than two years since a record-breaking atmospheric river drenched southern B.C., killing five people and tens of thousands of livestock animals and destroying critical infrastructure. It caused the Nooksack River in Washington state to flow across the B.C. border, into the Fraser Valley, breaching the Sumas dike.

Abbotsford, its Sumas Prairie and farmers, were among the hardest-hit by the disaster, which caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage that the B.C. government, and communities, are still working to repair.

Siemens said smaller flooding events — like the weekend’s — now make residents “very anxious.”

Breaking news from Canada and around the world sent to your email, as it happens.

“We lost tens of thousands of animals. This is people’s livelihood. It’s the food source for the province and you just feel so helpless as that water’s rising,” he said.

5:20

Abbotsford’s application for federal mitigation funds outlined additional resilience work for the Barrowtown Pump Station, the construction of a new Sumas River pump station, and the creation of a habitat enhancement and flood storage area to enhance protection of the Sumas River.

Global News has reached out to Infrastructure Canada for comment on this story. Its Disaster Mitigation Adaptation Fund website states that project proposals will be assessed on eligibility and merit, and applicants will be contacted once all proposal assessments are completed.

It does not provide a timeline.

6:22

Premier David Eby was in Ottawa on Monday, where he met with Prime Minister Trudeau and other federal officials. In a brief press conference, he said critical infrastructure was top of mind in his discussions.

“We’re expanding Highway 1, but we’re also doing repair work and have done (repair work) following the atmospheric river event, as well as other critical infrastructure for Abbotsford and for other communities across British Columbia,” Eby said.

“Making sure that our national trade corridor of Highway 1 works and stays in operation even in extreme weather events is a critically important shared priority of the federal government and the provincial government, and we do want to see the federal government show up at the table with the money to make real their commitments around this area.”

Through DriveBC, the Ministry of Transportation said Highway 1 had closed in both directions between Lytton and Spences Bridge due to flooding on Monday. The Lower Fraser Valley, including Abbotsford, remained under a flood watch issued by the B.C. River Forecast Centre.

1:28

In an emailed statement, the B.C. Ministry of Emergency and Climate Readiness said it has provided more than $102 million to support Abbotsford’s recovery from the 2021 floods, and resilience against future disasters.

That includes $62 million for a new well and water treatment system, $3.2 million in upgrades to the Barrowtown pump station, $13.2 million for homeowners, tenants, small businesses, charities, and farms, and more.

It ha also signed a multi-government agreement with the Semá:th, Matsqui and Leq’á:mel First Nations, Abbotsford and the City of Chilliwack to make Sumas Prairie more resilient to flooding.

Canada's Public Sector Integrity Commissioner issued a damning report Tuesday accusing officials with the federal corrections service of waiting years to fix a pipe that was leaching chemically treated water into the soil surrounding an Abbotsford, B.C., prison.

After conducting an investigation involving 14 people, Harriet Solloway found Correctional Service Canada (CSC) committed "gross mismanagement" — ignoring the advice of engineers as millions of litres of water from a central heating system leaked into the ground at Matsqui Institution.

"In reviewing the evidence, it becomes clear that CSC management did not undertake adequate and timely remedial action, demonstrating serious errors impacting safety and potentially harming the environment," Solloway wrote in her conclusions.

She said the actions didn't reflect "responsible stewardship of government funds and assets."

'Ethical and moral obligation'

According to the report, the Matsqui prison complex sits on top of three aquifers — one of which flows into a salmon-bearing stream.

In August 2017, an engineer noticed a problem with the underground piping system carrying hot water to the more than 1,000 inmates housed in the medium-security facility.

The report says employees add anti-corrosion chemicals to the boiler water.

A month after the leak was discovered, an engineer recommended excavation of the system to locate the leak.

"The engineer noted that by the end of the month, approximately 1,100,000 litres of chemically treated hot water would have leaked into the ground, and that he had an 'ethical and moral obligation' to inform management," the report says.

Solloway notes that in the four years following the initial discovery of the leak, several employees asked management to act. The engineer continued trying to raise the alarm, "but he was ignored."

The report says cost was cited as one rationale for not taking action, as was the possibility that the central heating system itself was ultimately going to be replaced.

At one point, in defiance of the engineer's advice, CSC tried unsuccessfully in 2018 to locate the leak using a procedure involving high-water pressure and a vacuum.

"Finally, on April 29, 2021, excavation of the entire pipe system was undertaken, nearly four years after an engineer's recommendation," the report says.

"As a result, multiple leaks were eventually found. By that time, according to CSC engineering personnel, millions of litres of chemically treated hot water had seeped into the ground."

No contamination and 'negligible' risks

Even then, it took nearly a month to fix the problem.

In the meantime, employees had to run two water pumps 24 hours a day in May 2021, adding cold water at one point, which led to the risk of an explosion caused by thermal shock and the filing of a safety complaint by an engineer.

More than 400 inmates were also left without hot water and space heating for two days.

"On May 25, 2021, after excavating and exposing the pipes under the Matsqui Institution, the leak was found and fully repaired," Holloway wrote.

"Several witnesses interviewed by our office stated that this major leak could have been prevented had it been found and repaired in a timely manner."

Solloway's report makes four recommendations, including the need to ensure maintenance plans for aging facilities are kept up to date and to establish an "action plan" to report, receive and address and critical infrastructure failures.

She also recommended an "independent, external environmental impact assessment of the area surrounding the Matsqui Complex, including aquifers, agricultural lands and salmon habitats, to determine possible past, present and future impact of the leak."

The last pages of the report include a response from CSC. Officials say tests have found no contamination and "negligible" risks — a conclusion Holloway said she accepted.

The agency said it also agreed with the call for "effective maintenance plans for all facilities across regions, especially for those with aging infrastructure."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

@proctor_jason

Jason Proctor is a reporter in British Columbia for CBC News and has covered the B.C. courts and the justice system extensively.

Feb. 20 was a good day for Carmen Dennis.

The Tahltan artist, who lives in the community of Dease Lake, in B.C.'s far northwest, had spent two days driving more than 1,600 kilometres to see the rapper Ice Cube perform in Abbotsford, about 64 kilometres southeast of Vancouver.

To celebrate the occasion, she had created a medallion bearing the Straight Outta Compton rapper's image, using beading techniques she learned from an elder. She wore it to the show, which sparked conversations with some fellow fans.

But as the rapper tore through his hits, Dennis' niece and daughter, who were also at the concert, convinced her to take the medallion off and let them throw it on stage in the hopes of getting his attention.

WATCH | Ice Cube receives and wears Dennis' medallion:

2 months ago

Duration 1:17

Tahltan First Nation beader Carmen Dennis travelled two days from her home in Dease Lake, near the B.C.-Yukon border, to see Ice Cube perform in Abbotsford, B.C. She also beaded a medallion featuring the rapper's face — which she tossed on the stage during the concert, then watched as Ice Cube picked it up, put it on, and wear it through his encore performance.

Before she knew it, the rapper — who also stars in movies including Boyz n the Hood, and the Friday and Are We There Yet? franchises — was wearing it around his neck, keeping it on for the rest of his set and his encore.

"Thank you for whoever made this," Ice Cube said as Dennis filmed him holding her artwork up for the crowd. "I appreciate it so much."

And Dennis' reaction?

"I was shaking so bad," she said in an interview with CBC Daybreak North host Carolina de Ryk. "My heart was pounding."

Ice Cube, who started his career with the rap group and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees N.W.A. before going on to have a massive solo music and film career, has just kicked off a series of Canadian tours, starting with the Abbotsford show Dennis attended.

She said the instant she heard he was coming to Canada, she knew she had to be at one of his shows, even if it meant a multi-day drive.

"He's very inspirational," she said, adding she has followed his career over multiple decades. "He's one of my favourite artists."

In the lead-up to the concert, she said, she was trying to manifest getting her work into the rapper's hands, repeatedly playing his track It Was a Good Day while she beaded.

By a twist of fate, that was the first song he performed after putting the medallion on.

Ice Cube is now headed across the country before coming back to B.C., including a show in Prince George that is somewhat closer to Dennis' home community — an 11-hour drive, rather than 18.

Dennis is hoping to be at that show and even more hopeful the musician will continue to wear her work — but even if he doesn't, she'll always have the memory, and footage, of one of her favourite rappers displaying a part of her culture.

"To have someone as iconic as Ice Cube wearing a piece of my art, that's just, like, a dream come true."

The mild airmass currently parked over western Canada led to more daily temperature records across British Columbia on Tuesday.

According to Environment Canada, nearly two dozen areas set new records, with 21 eclipsing old marks and two tying existing records.

The warmest community in B.C. on Tuesday was Abbotsford, which reached 18.4 C, shattering its old mark of 13.4 C, set in 1995.

Yet as warm as it was in the Fraser Valley on Tuesday, it was even warmer in Maple Creek, Sask., which was the nation’s hot spot at 21.1 C.

And in Alberta, 25 areas set new daily highs, though none as hot as Abbotsford, with 16 areas in Manitoba also setting daily highs for Jan. 30.

Tuesday was the third day in a row of record-breaking warmth, and more records are expected to fall on Wednesday.

Below are the B.C. areas that set or tied daily high temperatures for Jan. 30, 2024.

Abbotsford

Agassiz

Blue River

Cache Creek

Clinton

Dease Lake

Esquimalt

Estevan Point

Breaking news from Canada and around the world sent to your email, as it happens.

Gonzales Point

Hope

Lytton

More on Canada

Mackenzie

Prince George

Puntzi Mountain

Quesnel

Sechelt

Sparwood

Squamish

Victoria

West Vancouver

Whistler

Williams Lake

Yoho Park

Not only did those communities set daily high records, but many communities also experienced record-setting overnight temperatures.

For example, the warmest overnight temperature in Abbotsford on Jan. 30 had been 8.2 C, which was set in 1992. However, a new record was set on Tuesday when the overnight temperature fell to just 10.8 C.

Records for the warmest minimum temperatures on Jan. 30, 2024, are listed below.

Abbotsford

Blue River

Clinton

Duncan

Fort Nelson

Malahat

Nelson

Pemberton

Pitt Meadows

Richmond

Salmon Arm

Squamish

Vancouver

Victoria

West Vancouver

White Rock