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Happy Thursday, Langley!
Clear skies and sunshine are setting the tone today, with temperatures climbing toward double digits and an even warmer weekend on the horizon (we might actually see 20°C by Sunday).
Langley City is weighing a drop in residential speed limits to 30 km/h, a small but meaningful shift toward safer streets for everyone who isn't behind a windshield.
The Township, meanwhile, wants your input on its draft Transportation and Mobility Strategy at an online open house on April 29.
We also cover a $575,000 fine against a Langley construction firm over a fatal 2012 trench collapse, a free repair café this Saturday at the Langley Senior Resources Centre, and the province's move to ratify a long-overdue treaty with the Kitselas Nation.
The toxic drug crisis continues to claim roughly four lives a day in B.C., and Lytton residents are warning about the financial toll of rebuilding after climate-driven wildfire.
Langley City Considers Dropping Residential Speed Limits to 30 km/h
Langley City is looking at a proposal to cut the maximum speed limit on residential streets from 50 km/h to 30 km/h, a move that would bring the city in line with a growing number of municipalities prioritizing pedestrian and cyclist safety.
Lower speed limits are one of the most effective and least expensive tools cities have to reduce traffic fatalities, particularly for children, seniors, and people with disabilities who navigate neighbourhood streets on foot.
The proposal comes as Langley continues to densify and add more residents to areas originally designed around car traffic.
Council has not yet voted on the change, but the discussion signals a welcome shift toward treating streets as shared public space rather than throughways for vehicles.
Township of Langley Wants Your Input on Its Transportation and Mobility Strategy
The Township of Langley is hosting an online open house on Wednesday, April 29 to gather public feedback on its draft Transportation and Mobility Strategy. Registration is required.
For a municipality long shaped by car-centric planning, this is a real opportunity for residents to push for better transit, safer cycling infrastructure, and more walkable neighbourhoods.
The strategy will guide how the Township invests in getting people around for years to come. That makes community input essential, especially from renters, transit riders, and people who do not drive.
The Township's latest newsletter also flags several upcoming community events, including the 64th annual Langley Walk on May 3 in Fort Langley and BC Youth Week activities running May 1 to 7 for teens aged 13 to 18.
Langley City Council Pursues Emergency Preparedness Funding, Marks Day of Mourning
Langley City Council approved an application for $69,800 through the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund at its April 13 meeting. If successful, the grants will connect the city's Emergency Operations Centre to the Alertable notification system, fund staff training, and purchase communication equipment.
Council also received a presentation from the New Westminster and District Labour Council ahead of the annual Day of Mourning on April 28, which honours workers killed and injured on the job. This year's focus includes mental health, bullying, harassment, and workplace stress. Langley City will observe a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m.
On regional matters, Council directed staff to respond to proposed land use changes in Maple Ridge and Surrey, including a proposal affecting the Hazelmere Golf Course lands, an area that has faced repeated development pressure.
Council also appointed Lana Kirkwood as the Indigenous community representative and Liam McCarney as a youth representative on the Arts, Recreation, Culture and Heritage Committee.
Langley Construction Firm Fined $575K for Worker's Death. Is That Enough?
A B.C. Supreme Court judge has fined Langley construction company J. Cote and Sons $575,000 after a 2012 trench collapse killed 28-year-old Jeff Caron and seriously injured Thomas Richer.
The court found the company criminally negligent, citing a "collective failure" by senior officers to ensure worker safety at the Burnaby jobsite.
Crown prosecutors had asked for a $1-million fine.
The payments will be spread over five years, starting in 2027, raising hard questions about whether any dollar figure can truly answer for a life cut short and another forever changed.
Free Repair Café Returns to Langley Senior Resources Centre This Saturday, April 18
Got a broken toaster, a ripped jacket, or a dull kitchen knife?
Langley Environmental Partners Society is hosting another free repair café this Saturday, April 18.
Volunteer fixers will tackle clothing mends, small appliances, bikes, toys, and more from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Langley Senior Resources Society centre on 51B Avenue.
Repairs are free, donations welcome, and LEPS is looking for more handy volunteers to join the team.
Fore more info, please email education@leps.bc.ca. You can also reach out to them if you'd like to volunteer as a fixer!
B.C. Introduces Legislation to Ratify Kitselas Treaty
The province has introduced legislation to ratify a treaty with the Kitselas Nation, a milestone that Premier David Eby acknowledged is long overdue.
Modern treaties are a critical step toward recognizing Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination, returning governance and resources to nations that have been dispossessed by colonial policy for generations.
The Kitselas Nation, located near Terrace in northwestern B.C., has been in treaty negotiations for decades. Ratification would provide the Nation with greater control over its lands, resources, and governance structures.
The legislation now moves through the provincial legislature for approval.
Toxic Drug Crisis Continues to Kill Four British Columbians Per Day
The B.C. Coroners Service reports that 115 people died from toxic drug poisoning in February 2026, an average of roughly four deaths every single day.
The numbers remain staggering, and they reflect the ongoing failure of governments at every level to treat the poisoned drug supply as the public health emergency it is.
A separate report from the First Nations Health Authority reveals that 289 First Nations people in B.C. died from toxic drugs in 2025. First Nations communities continue to be vastly overrepresented in the data, a direct consequence of colonialism, displacement, and systemic underfunding of culturally safe health services.
These are not inevitable deaths. They are the predictable result of criminalization, inadequate safe supply programs, and political reluctance to fund harm reduction at the scale the crisis demands.
Lytton Residents Fear Financial Ruin After Wildfire Devastation
Residents of Lytton, B.C., who rebuilt their lives after a catastrophic 2021 wildfire are now facing a different kind of disaster: potential financial ruin for the tiny village itself.
Long-time residents like Ross and Judith Urquhart, who have called Lytton home for half a century, left only long enough to rebuild. Now the community's fiscal survival is in question.
Lytton's devastation was not simply a "natural disaster." The village recorded Canada's highest-ever temperature just before the fire, a direct consequence of the climate crisis. Recovery has been painfully slow, hampered by bureaucratic delays and insufficient government support.
The story of Lytton is a warning about who bears the cost of climate breakdown: small, under-resourced communities, including the Lytton First Nation and Nlaka'pamux people whose territory this is, while fossil fuel corporations continue to profit.
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