By Aly Laube, Fraser Valley Community Radio, CIVL 101.7 FM, Local Journalism Initiative
Without the labour of Asian immigrants, who ran the city’s lumber mill and built railroads all over Canada, Abbotsford wouldn’t be what it is today. Many of the South Asian families in the valley are second and third generation Canadians with established roots in the local community.
Continue reading The hushed Racist history of AbbotsfordBy Aly Laube, Fraser Valley Community Radio, CIVL 101.7 FM, Local Journalism Initiative
A co-chair of the Race and Anti-Racism Network and professor at UFV, Ian Rocksborough-Smith says white supremacy in the city now looks different than it did in the 1900s. Organizations like the Heritage Society are predominantly white as well, as are most of the other influential groups in the valley. Abbotsford is also the only city in the valley that didn’t swing NDP, and stayed largely Liberal in the last provincial election, and it’s the home riding of the Christian Heritage Party, which Rocksborough-Smith describes as “a white nationalist neo-fascist party.” This reflects the ideals and beliefs of the people living there: Largely conservative and religious.
Continue reading Tying history to present-day racismBy Aly Laube, Fraser Valley Community Radio, CIVL 101.7 FM, Local Journalism Initiative
Interviews have been edited for length and clarity. This content might include some explicit language.
Abbotsford, BC is the largest municipality in the Fraser Valley Regional District, an exurban area about an hour east of Vancouver. It’s growing very quickly, with a 2013 City of Abbotsford Official Community Plan expecting 40,000 new residents within 20 years.
Continue reading Abbotsford’s secret History of Racism: IntroductionBy Roy L Hales
Fifty one of BC’s faith leaders have written Christy Clark an open letter requesting she reconsider her decision to approve the expansion of coal facilities on Texada Island. This follows the discovery, last month, that the provincial government secretly approved a plan to expand for a tenfold to twentyfold increase of the material being exported to China. They wrote that coal is “the fossil fuel most directly linked to the rise of CO2 emissions in China” and “making money at the expense of the health and prosperity of the planet is wrong.”
