FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

May 9, 2018

President’s report

• Web site – fhca.ca
• Ed MacIntosh, president
• FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development.
• The FHCA has met four times a year, in the past, to discuss issues that affect our community but will reducing the number of meetings to 3 next year.
• FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community.
• If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website or send email to directors@fhca.ca). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
• Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page – click on become a member).  You will receive three notifications and three reminders of the upcoming meetings per year.  There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.

 Treasurer’s report:  The balance was not available as our treasurer was absent.  It was explained that expenses per year for our association have been around $1,000 for renting the school, paying insurance to hold the meetings in the theatre, paying a student to run the audio/visual, etc. and that the directors do not use any of the money for personal expenses related to attending meetings/open houses etc. – it is all used for the community association.  Last year we collected around $200 from the container passed around which was not enough to support our organization for one year.

RCMP update on safety and security – District #2 Commander for Guildford/Fleetwood, Sgt Mike Spencer, was in attendance tonight (Community Response Unit).  He is at 10395-148 St. The best way to reach him is through the following email address:  fleetwood@rcmp-grc.gc.ca.  If Mike is away, other officers can access this email to insure your issue is dealt with.  Mike can also be reached at:  mike.spencer@rcmp-grc.gc.ca and voicemail messages can be left for him at phone # 778-593-3396, if something of concern is taking place in the community that you want RCMP to deal with and it is not urgent.  If urgent, dial 911.

Break-ins in Fraser Heights

• Since our last meeting in February, 2 key arrests were made and these felons are currently incarcerated so crime has essentially stopped in this area. Lots of residents supplied video surveillance to aid the police in capturing these two individuals.
• There have been very few crimes since last meeting but as a community, we must stay diligent to defend our property and that of our neighbours. Don’t become complacent – keep calling police when things do not seem normal or if you see something suspicious.  If the community remains vigilant, the criminals move onto other areas.
• The one B&E reported in progress was of a garage that had been left open and a neighbour saw the perpetrators. Due to the resident making a report, the bad guys left without stealing anything. Warning – do not leave your possessions unattended.
• Auto theft has always been a problem in Surrey but in past quarter, there has been little to report in FH and there has been no mail theft.
• If your home has video surveillance cameras, you can register with the RCMP for Project Iris as footage collected from these cameras has been quite effective in solving crimes.

1. http://bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2177&languageId=1&contentId=48951
2. http://www.surrey.ca/community/20957.aspx?utm_source=VanityURL&utm_campaign=Iris&utm_medium=Print).

• Make sure the video camera is located so it will be helpful e.g., showing who is at your door. Video feed should be clear and not have the porch light shining into it.  Most video cameras produce very high quality footage.
• Quarterly crime stats and current media releases can be obtained on the Surrey RCMP website at:

http://surrey.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=69&languageId=1

• There is a Surrey RCMP app (picture of a Mountie saluting on a dark blue background) that provides valuable information in our community as well as can use it to call RCMP.
• District 2 RCMP Blockwatch coordinator Amy Ghag (ghag@rcmp-grc.gc.ca) can supply info to neighbourhoods about Block Watch. More information about Blockwatch can be found at http://bc.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ViewPage.action?siteNodeId=2177&languageId=1&contentId=732.
• There have been many smash and grab car thefts in Tynehead Park and other areas of Surrey. Thieves see something in a car they want or think is of value and it only takes them seconds to smash the glass, grab the item and go.  They prefer not to smash glass (it makes noise) so they go around checking to see if vehicle doors have been left unlocked.   Avoid leaving items in your car.  Dash cameras are popular for crooks to steal so take them with you or put them out of sight when leaving the vehicle.

City of Surrey – Neal Aven, Manager of Parks:

1. Chafer beetle infestation
2. This beetle has caused serious crop and turf destruction. It was identified in New Westminster in 2001.  By 2014, it had spread to Surrey and has now been found throughout most of Surrey.
3. Turf grass along main roads and in/around parks is cared for by the City Engineering Dept.
4. Test plots have been tried in various places in the City using tall fescue or micro clover instead of grass. The clover did not survive well over the winter.
5. Since Surrey Bylaws prohibits the use of Pesticides, biological control using nematodes is used to control the problem. Packages of these parasites can be purchased from garden stores.  They have to be spread on a well-watered lawn during a very short window of time (mid-summer) and the lawn must be kept moist for the time it takes the nematodes to infest and kill the chafer beetle larvae (usually a total of about 6 days. The City found the nematodes worked well on some sites and not on others.  Each package of nematodes costs about $80 and covers around 75 square meters.  Permits would have to be obtained from the City in order to be allowed to water for the 6 or so days (note that the watering must be during the very early morning hours in Surrey)
6. The City has been and is investigating a grant program to help purchase and apply nematodes. The City of Burnaby has voucher program – 50% off and they also give a city watering permit when the nematodes are purchased).  Surrey is focusing on “A” level parks to eradicate the beetle larvae as these are the most used/serviced parks.  Burnaby’s program begins first week of May as they need to know the volume of nematodes to order for their community.
7. To help reduce infestation by beetles, maintain your lawn by fertilizing it and keep it a few inches long as this helps deter the beetles from laying larvae. Do not cover your lawn with chicken wire or other products to stop the raccoons, crows and skunks from pulling up your lawn as they do a good job of eating and ridding your lawn from the larvae.  If the grubs are left in the lawn, they will eat the roots of your grass, kill it then they’ll mature, become adult beetles, fly upward and mate then re-infest your lawn and your neighbours’ lawns.
8. Info fact sheet from Province’s website on chafer beetles is found at: https://www.google.ca/search?q=Ministry+of+agriculture+European+chafer+beetle&oq=Ministry+of+agriculture+European+chafer+beetle&aqs=chrome..69i57.11779j1j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&safe=active&ssui=on . They have one cycle a year – eggs hatch around mid-July (the best time for spreading nematodes), they feed throughout the fall and into the spring until April when they form pupae.  Adults emerge in late May and June, fly up to mate then each female deposits about 50 eggs nearby.  Although they eat all types of grass, they will also feed on roots of corn, potatoes, berry and other crops.

• European Gypsy moth has been found in west Fraser Heights the past couple of years. It can cause serious defoliation of trees and plants.

1. This year, the City used a liquid ground spray instead of spraying from planes/helicopter. The spray contains Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt – naturally found in the soil) which is sprayed on the leaves eaten by the grubs and it kills them.  It is safe for pets and other wildlife.
2. The spraying days were in early May (signs were posted on 154^th Street or Fraser Heights Greenway on the spraying days) and there will be a 3^rd application 10 days later.
3. Intensive trapping (little cardboard tents hung in trees that are coated with a sticky substance inside and a pheromone that attracts the male moths) will take place in this area to see if any moths are left.
4. If the moths get into any forest products, the infected wood cannot be exported.
5. One resident asked why one side of her street was sprayed and not the other. The City tries to narrow the areas needing to be sprayed based on where moths have been found.  They draw lines on the maps and keep within those boundaries.
6. Vancouver uses the pesticide Merit (imidacloprid) but Surrey prohibits the use of pesticides.

• Fraser View off-leash dog park (the park on 112^th Ave at the north east corner of 160).

1. The off-leash park plan was approved and was to have been completed this spring but other higher priority projects, with time sensitive funding such as Hawthorne Park, had to be completed first.
2. The new date for the park is late 2018 or early 2019.

• Surrey Request App (white check mark inside white outline of a circle on a green background) – use this app to make any requests to the City – they will answer you but, depending on what the request is and its urgency, it could take days to weeks or months to address your request (new tree plantings to replace dead or fallen trees are done at specific times of the year)

1. How to download the app – Go to the Playstore on Google or iPhones
2. Type in Surrey Request and download – use for requests of services or reporting emergencies (if urgent, please contact 911 or police directly)
3. Click on submit a service request then click on the category list that best matches your request (note, if unsure, ask for request to be forwarded to right department)
4. On the next screen, make another selection that will best identify your concern.
5. The menu/selection list may be a few to many screens, depending on what is being reported
6. The next section says to Enter Additional concerns (you can also type the address or location in there and any descriptors)
7. Do you want to add a photo – you can select one from your gallery or take one and add while filling out the request on your phone – these are helpful in identifying the problem
8. Next, a city map shows up. The drop pin is fixed in place but you can move the map so the pin lands on the location of your complaint or the problem area (or you can select “my location” which will pin the spot you are standing at when filling out the app complaint.
9. Finally, add your person information (first/last name, email address and phone number) as the City will contact you in regards to time frame for completion or that they got your request. Accept the terms and conditions then submit your request.  Sometimes, the City will email or phone you with a survey upon completion as to how well the complaint was handled by them.
10. Question – how to get updates on where request is on the list. Typically City responds –  note – requests go into a giant cue and are dealt with depending on various factors.
11. If you haven’t received an email saying “closed”, then it still is in the cue. 4 weeks is nothing for tree replacement as volume of requests is so high.  If you get an email/phone call saying it was closed and the problem hasn’t been addressed, call in with the number you were assigned and the City can look into what has happened.  You can also call in to find where your request is in the queue.  Don’t resubmit the request as it will go at the end of the current queue.
12. If several people make same request, the urgency will increase

Trans Mountain (TM) pipeline update, NEB Hearing March 17, 2018:

1. Meeting with the NEB (National Energy Board) regarding the routing of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, March 17
2. Our request was to cluster the pipeline with railway and SFPR and it was well received.
3. Although 3 of our board of directors attended (Ed MacIntosh, Ed Moore and Lindsay Ryerson), they were not property owners who would be directly affected by the pipeline. Due to this, the decision went largely to the City of Surrey who owned much of the land that the pipeline is proposed to go through.  Some home/land owners did have their own separate hearings as they were directly affected.
4. Ed MacIntosh attended a meeting last week with all community associations across the City where the PIPE UP Network shared information. Their email address is pipe-up.net and they can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PipeUpNetwork.  They have concerns about the potential impact of the proposed pipeline, especially if there was a spill or rupture and the impact of the bitumen on the Fraser River.  They are dedicated to empowering communities with the knowledge needed to stop the proposed Kinder Morgan Pipeline expansion and to work toward a just transition to a fossil free future in collaboration with Indigenous People.  Check Facebook to see what activities they have scheduled.
5. They hold workshops – one was held in FH about 3 years ago.
6. Note that the pipeline will be all underground using horizontal directional drilling or cut and cover

Development:

• Meeting with the City of Surrey Engineering Department – Doug McLeod (transportation planning)

1. 100 Ave upgrades from 172 to 175 St – there is a lot of roadwork going on. Multi-purpose pathway is being constructed in this area as well.
2. 104 Ave & 170A St intersection – issues with traffic and school patrol due to increased traffic heading east along 104 to SFPR and connector. City thought this was more of a policing issue and that the traffic needed to be slowed down (from 168 down to 176 St on 104 Ave) – Police are monitoring this site.  There is a pedestrian light on the far sides of 104 Ave/170A St
3. 104 Ave upgrades – currently, there is too much speeding along this corridor. The more open side of road is, the faster people go.  Curbs and gutters are being installed as they give structure so a road appears narrower and vehicles tend to slow down.
4. Resident mentioned that when she heads north on 176^th in the morning, there is a line of cars waiting to turn left onto 104 Ave. These stopped vehicles are not seen until she has come over the hill on 176 and this is an accident waiting to happen as they are at a full stop in the traffic lane.  MOTI (Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure) is working on improving this intersection.
5. The 77 proposed townhomes have been designed to look like other housing in FH
6. 104/176 upgrades – new sewer line is being added as the current one is almost at capacity
7. 164 St & 104 Ave traffic light – there have been numerous accidents here. The City said, based on the number of vehicles going through this intersection or entering FH via the #1 off-ramp), a traffic light is warranted.  A round-about was not considered as it cost considerably more than traffic lights.  Time line to installation of the lights is 1½ to 2 years.

• Public Hearings April 9

1. Fraser Heights Wine Cellar application for liquor store – it was passed to be a full liquor store (they will rearrange product inside store to accommodate all the new items)
2. 77 Townhouse proposal at 100 Ave & 176 St was also passed

MLA Constituency report by Deanna Fasciani (email Deanna.Fasciani@leg.bc.ca) – constituency assistant for Garry Begg who was not able to come (he was in Victoria for meetings):

• Gary was in Victoria today but will be back from June to Sept.
• Can book appointments in advance with him by emailing him at begg.mla@leg.bc.ca or by calling his office at 604-586-3747
• Advocacy for constituents – his office deals with range of issues such as residential tenancy problems (both for owners and renters), ministry of health (though Fraser Health), Ministry of social development and poverty reduction
• Outreach – community drop in sessions were from Feb to May. There have been evening meetings but regular office hours are 9:30 to 4.  Garry is at his office most Fridays but is in Victoria from Mon to Thurs.
• His annual summer barbeque is Sat Aug 4^th
• Sat Aug 11 is a barbeque put on by MP Ken Hardie
• “Town Hall” will be coming up again in the fall. This year, it will be a bit more open and a few of the themes that will be released in advance.  Details will be on website
• Can sign up for the newsletter on the website – next issue will be June (there isn’t one in May)
• Tynehead hatchery (http://tyneheadhatchery.ca) – this coming Saturday will be a release of the fish
• Childcare – the new benefit plan will come out in Sept (for families making up to $111,000, they can apply online). Reductions may be as high as $350 per month.
• earlyyears@gov.bc.ca (lots of childcare providers have signed up). BC childcare map – can find these childcare providers in your area
• Community grants – non-profits seeking funding, related to sports and recreation – check with Garry’s office. If your community program falls into one of the categories, you can apply.
• Educators, EAs, principals can nominate school staff for awards by June 18. The winners will receive up to $3000 for furthering their education or they can donate money to their school.

Concerns or comments:

• A resident from Abbey Glen complained about the train whistles. Lindsay Ryerson addressed this issue.  This has been an ongoing problem that individuals and the association have been working on for about 8 years.  Panorama Ridge residents/association were successful after addressing this problem for 12 years.  Note – If there are no whistles and someone gets hit, the railway does not take responsibility.  It could take another 5 years before we get whistle cessation in FH.  The procedure takes a long time due to legal issues.

There was a call for interested residents to join our board of directors.  We meet 1 to 2 weeks before each community association meeting and attend various meetings and open houses that deal with issues in our community.

This was the last meeting of the FHCA for the 2017/2018 school year.  We will be going from 4 meetings to 3 next year due to costs.  The 3 meetings for the 2018/2019 school year will be announced during the summer and the first one should be toward the end of September.

FRASER HEIGHTS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION MINUTES

February 21 2018

President’s report

• Web site – fhca.ca
• Ed MacIntosh, president
• FHCA is a volunteer non-profit organization – we volunteer our time to represent the community dealing with issues that affect our community such as safety, traffic, development
• The FHCA meets four times a year to discuss issues that affect our community
• FHCA helps shape policy and issues that involve our community
• If you have problems in our community, please send your information to us and we will look into these issues (go to Contact Us on the fhca.ca website or send email to directors@fhca.ca). This is our primary site to collect comments from residents about community issues so we know about them and can send them on to the City.
• Membership is free. If you are not currently on the email list, go to our website and sign up (on the right side of website page – click on become a member).  You will receive four notifications and four reminders of the upcoming meetings per year.  There may also be notifications of open houses or events affecting FH residents.

  Senior Chinese Dancers from Fraser Heights (the minimum age was 55 and the average age was 70 years old) entertained us with 3 graceful, elegant and colourful dances at the beginning of our meeting to celebrate the Chinese New Year.  They will also be a part of the Celebration of Chinese Lantern Festival at Fraser Heights High School on March 9 in the cafeteria from 6:30 to 9 p.m.  All are invited (see invitation on the fhca.ca website)

Treasurer’s report:  Financial statement – total account balance is $2201.18

RCMP update on safety and security – District #2 Commander for Guildford/Fleetwood, Sgt Mike Spencer, was in attendance tonight (Community Response Unit).  He is at 10395-148 St. The best way to reach him is through his email address: mike.spencer@rcmp-grc.gc.ca. but voice messages can be left for him at phone # 778-593-3396 if something of concern is taking place in the community that you want RCMP to deal with and is not urgent.  If urgent, dial 911.

Break-ins in Fraser Heights

• Number of auto thefts has been down over the last month. A group of 6 or 7 men, who committed many of these thefts, are now in jail but they will eventually get out so do not let your guard down.  Do not leave your vehicles running in this cold weather with key in ignition and doors unlocked as it is an open invitation for someone to steal your vehicle.  If your car needs a fob to start it, the thieves have been known to take the cars and leave them running (in one case, a vehicle was running for 1 ½ days).  The vehicles don’t need the fob nearby to keep running but once the vehicle is turned off, it cannot be restarted without a fob.  Note that the criminals use these vehicles to commit other crimes.
• Number of residential break & enters has risen substantially and it appears Fraser Heights is being targeted. A very large organized group, who have been difficult to catch, is responsible for most of the B&Es.  Normally, B&Es happen during day but this group works in evening hours.  They scout around the area to discover which homes are empty or have people home.
• A flyer was sent to many homes/mailboxes of residents to get information to the public (not all residents have received the flyer yet) about this problem and what to do.
• The RCMP property crime team is diligently working in FH now. Many residents have very good HD video surveillance systems and have provided videos to police that have helped identify the culprits.  If you have video surveillance at your house, it would be helpful to register this information at surrey.ca/iris so that the police can contact you if a crime is committed in your area.  These videos are very important to the police to aid the capture and identification of the criminals.  If you want more information, please contact cctvregistry@surrey.ca.  Make sure you preserve video footage because the system eventually records over itself.  If you think you have video footage of a crime or suspects, put it on USB and save it.  Many systems only tape when there is movement so you should not have hours to view if you are looking for suspects or criminal activity.
• The Vancouver Police Department also made arrests of group members that were operating in Vancouver. There are still more of them operating in Metro Vancouver – if they can be identified, they are held and then go to court which will put them off the streets for a while.
• There are covert police teams doing surveillance in FH
• The mode of operation – the offenders, usually 3 to 4 men from ages 18 to the 30s, can be of mixed races, wear dark clothing and have longer hair and facial hair but some don’t fit the profile as one had white shoes and light clothing. They arrive in a vehicle which they park away from the houses being targeted and may leave a driver in the vehicle while they walk down the street checking out the houses.  They knock on residents’ doors and if residents answer, they act confused and ask for a random person then say they must have the wrong house and leave.  They try to determine if someone is home and if movement is seen in the home, they take off to another house in the area.  If they see police, they usually keep on walking.
• Once the crime is committed, they may call the driver to pick them up. If you see someone sitting in a car or men out on foot, please contact the police!  Make a note of car make/model and licence plate number and a description of the people to give to the police.
• From watching the neighbourhood, thieves know the homes they are picking on and where to go once inside the house.
• They will do a walk around your house and disable your motion sensor lights. Make sure those lights are out of reach so they can’t be disabled or the wires snipped.  Many homes have cameras within reach that are easily disabled.
• Make your home look occupied – leave your TV/stereo on as if someone is in the house. These men do not want to be detected and will move on if they feel someone is home.  If all residents make their homes look occupied, thieves will move on and they likely will not come back here.
• Talk to your neighbours – don’t discount any suspicious activity and make sure to call the police. Trust your instincts.  If in doubt, call the police – police will show up.  Your call may stop the thieves’ activity for that night and if this happens often, they will move on.  Remember, the police will check out the people/vehicles (take pictures of licence plates) that you report.  If you aren’t sure, let the police be the ones to determine who these people are and what they are doing.
• It can be concerning if residents have left their children alone in the house and the thieves enter the house. Teach your children to call 911 if they suspect someone is casing your home or the neighbours’ homes.
• Police have priorities 1 through 4. If a life is in danger, it is priority 1, property crimes are priority 2, and anything else is 3 or 4.  If you see something happening, immediately call the police so they can get to the scene and then call your neighbours.  Do not email this information as police presence is needed immediately, not when someone reads the email which could be too late.
• These men will operate in a small area one night then leave. The next night or week will hit another area so there are pockets all over FH that have been targeted.
• FH is close to #1 Highway and SFPR so it is easy to escape from but if police have enough warning, they can block our 3 exits and catch the criminals as they try to leave.
• These crimes are not usually considered to be a priority one (not life and death). If these thieves think they are safely in a home and are confronted by someone at home, they might fight or flee.  Since some of these men may be high on something, their behaviour could be irrational and it is not known how they might behave if confronted but generally, they have not resorted to violence
• Alarms are a deterrent but these men may disable cameras and alarms by cutting wires and destroy the surveillance footage. Once inside the home, they know they have a set amount of time to get in and out.  Point of entry is usually through the back door – they like to be quiet and so will pry out the sliding door – it is quiet and easy to do and does little damage.  You may notice small pry marks on your back door if you were targeted.  They gently close door on way out so neighbours don’t see any secondary evidence of a break in (no broken glass or damage).  Once inside house, they won’t give up until they find what they are looking for.  In one case, they even had time to take a wall safe out of the wall and drag it onto the lawn.  The quieter they are, the more time they will have to spend inside the house looking for valuables.
• Secure your sliding doors by putting a screw through the middle column. These security kits can be bought at hardware stores.  The screw goes in most of way through the doors or windows it is installed on.  If you put a hockey stick or wooden/metal dowel in the track, fasten it to the bottom of the track.
• Communication with neighbours is important! Even if you are going out just for a few hours or the evening, let trusted neighbours know you’ll be out so they can watch your house.  A big dog might deter a person from entering but a small dog probably won’t – they’ll bark and let people know someone is there but if thieves want in, they’ll throw food at the dog to keep it busy.

MP report by Ken Hardie (MP for Surrey – Fleetwood/Port Kells):

• There is a federal program dedicated to fighting the guns/crime problems in Canada. The gov’t is aware of an acute problem in the Metro Vancouver area.
• On March 7^th, interested parties, (such as City mayors, including Surrey’s mayor Linda Hepner) in the guns/violence program, will be in Ottawa to get an idea of what this program should look like.
• Focus of meeting in Ottawa – to use federal gov’t funding for crime prevention and target hardening which may look different in various communities. Guys who had been in gangs came up with a documentary on the gang life.  A community approach is needed on how to deal with children/adults heading into or are part of a criminal life.
• Good book to read “Broken Windows Theory” by James Q Wilson and George Kelling (1982). This book had an enormous impact on New York City police policy.  The premise was, if there was a house in the community with broken windows that had not been fixed, it showed nobody cared so the criminals started to test the limits.  By cleaning up the community, removing graffiti, fixing street lights, mowing lawns, etc., the crime rate dropped significantly.
• Resident complained that the Bylaws department appeared to be run by non-residents of Surrey and they don’t tend to go after vehicles parked on street that might be part of a B&E or are stolen. These vehicles can sit there for weeks with no response.  Please note, call the RCMP non-emergency line about these vehicles as police will take care of the problem in a timely manner.
• Kinder Morgan line – issues have been arising about the proposed route. Ken met with Kinder Morgan CEO, Ian Anderson, last week in regards to this.
• Construction impact on residents – the issues as to where to put the line and the timeframe of the construction activities were discussed. Ken will be attending the hearings in Burnaby in regards to the portion going through our community, especially Fraser Heights.
• Kinder Morgan wants their construction to have minimal disruption on the community
• A Resident asked why we were not refining the oil from the pipeline here in order to create jobs? The Prairies ship their oil to the Gulf of Mexico rather than send it to eastern Canada as they say it is it is more economical to refine in warmer climates.  There has been no application to build pipelines to feed refineries in the east.
• There are still major refineries in Alberta. We had 2 or 3 in Metro Vancouver but now there is only one left.  The refineries that work well are large ones.  Canada is not a large enough market to refine the product close to where it is extracted.
• The highest gasoline prices in Canada are found in Metro Vancouver due to all the taxes added on to the price. Abbotsford’s gas should be about 25 cents a litre cheaper as the tax rate is lower (the gasoline companies in the Fraser Valley may take a bigger profit and not reduce the price by 25 cents.
• A resident was concerned about the summer student program that appeared to exclude churches and places of religion from getting grants to hire students. Ken has been in touch with most of the churches in the area to clear up this matter.
• It originally sounded like Trudeau had said the churches had to agree with gay marriages/abortion and the whole LGBTQ community in order to get funding to hire students for the Canada summer job program. This was put in place to ensure public funding wasn’t going to groups working against women’s right to choose and the other groups.  The core mandate of organization must not restrict women’s rights or LGBTQ.  Ken said every church in Surrey had nothing in their mandate that said the purpose of that organization was to work against those rights and LGBTQ.  The Gov’t looked at the mission and vision statements across Canada and found nothing that would prevent them from getting funding.  Initially, a lot of churches interpreted core mandate as core values but these are not same.
• Between now and next year, this will be reworded or removed or all the faith based groups will meet so the meaning of core-based mandate is clear. Lots of churches applied for funding but had refused to check off the attestation.  Ken said, if you are not working against your values then this has nothing to do with issues in question and the attestation can be signed.

 Trans Mountain (TM) pipeline update, NEB Hearing March 17, 2018:

• Select FHCA directors will be attending the Trans Mountain Hearing on Saturday, March 17 – our position is simple – instead of coming up through the community and behind the backyards of houses along 113^th Ave, we want the pipeline clustered with the railway and SFPR. Timing and type of construction were the other issues.
• Although there had been several presentations, many residents did not become concerned or involved until Kinder Morgan started drilling bore holes behind their backyards.
• Kinder Morgan has stated that at no place will the pipeline be above ground but there is still the matter of where it goes and how deep it is laid.
• There is a lot of room by railway, the Golden Ears Connector and the SFPR to lay this pipeline alongside it or under it as the pipeline will be down deep in the ground.
• Their position has been that they didn’t want to damage the shrew population and ecosystems but they did not appear to be concerned about affecting the nearby residents by removing most or all of the trees behind their houses.  These residents have already had part of the hillside stripped to build the SFPR which has increased the noise by the SFPR and intermodal yard.  Few to none of the trees will be replaced as only grasses can be planted on a large swath along/beside the pipeline.  Lack of trees and vegetation will increase the noise level once again.  There has been no consultation with intermodal yard or SFPR.  They need to deaden sound as much as possible rather than strip more trees between the houses and the river.

MLA Constituency report by Deanna Fasciani (email Deanna.Fasciani@leg.bc.ca) – constituency assistant for Garry Begg who was not able to come (he was in Victoria for meetings):

• Gary was in Victoria today but will be back for the May 9^th
• The budget came out this past Tuesday. If you have feedback on this budget, call or email their office.  He is having community drop in sessions on Mar 16, 23 or you can make apt to meet with him privately.
• Telephone Town Hall – this deals with issues in our community. The date for this will be on website.  At this point in time, only a landline can be used to call into the Town Hall but they are working to make it mobile friendly so those with only mobile phones can also call in.
• Electoral referendum. gov.bc.ca/howwevote – go to this website and do the survey to let the gov’t know how constituencies should be set up and how you feel votes should be counted.  Results will go to attorney general.  If you require a paper version (pdf copy), you can request this online or phone Deanna and she’ll send it to you.

The last meeting of the FHCA for the 2017/2018 year will be:
May 9, 2018