National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Langley

Tomorrow is Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The federal and provincial governments established this statutory holiday in response to one of the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

This day is “to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”

Reconciliation Langley is hosting what is now an annual event in our broader community at Derek Doubleday Arboretum from 5 pm until 8 pm on Tuesday, September 30th. The event includes an educational story walk, which you can go at your own pace, drummers, speakers, and a candlelight vigil. For more information, you can visit the Reconciliation Langley Facebook page or email reconciliationlangley21@gmail.com

If you are unable to attend an event in person, I encourage you to learn the history of residential schools. A very good virtual resource is the Witness Blanket by artist Carey Newman and hosted by the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Have You Say: Langley City Aquatic Centre Study

Our community has experienced rapid growth over the last decade, and with the impending arrival of the SkyTrain, the number of folks moving to Langley City is expected to continue as a long-term trend. While the Al Anderson Memorial Pool is a first-rate facility, we recognize that we will need to expand or build a new facility.

Since I’ve been on Council, we've heard from the community a desire for an indoor facility.

As part of the broader Invest Langley City vision, the City is launching an Aquatic Centre Feasibility Study.

What would you like to see in a potential future facility? A cold plunge pool, sauna, steam room, or leisure pool? Have your say.

On “Let’s Chat, Langley City!”, you can learn more and take part in a survey.

The City is also hosting pop-up info booths as follows:

• September 27 from 10:30AM to 12:30PM at Al Anderson Memorial Pool
• October 6 from 2:00PM to 4:00PM at No Frills (5501 204 Street)
• October 6 from 5:00PM to 7:00PM at Timms Community Centre

The City expects to complete the feasibility study by the end of December.

Take the survey

Langley City at the Annual Union of BC Municipalities Convention: Advocacy and Awareness

Around this time every year, local elected folks from around BC gather for the annual Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) convention. The convention either takes place in Vancouver or Victoria. This year, it is in Victoria. There are several key components of the convention.

The first is that the UBCM membership, including myself and other elected folks, debates resolutions, and if these resolutions are approved, they are forwarded to the province to represent the views of all municipalities in BC. These resolutions also help inform the advocacy efforts of the UBCM to the provincial government. The resolution usually calls on the UBCM or the provincial government to take a specific action. Langley City has four resolutions for debate, which were previously endorsed by other elected folks from the Lower Mainland earlier this year.

Waiting for an appointment with a provincial minister.

Councillor Albrecht, Councillor Wallace, Myself, MLA Amna Shah, Councillor Mack, and Fraser Health CEO Dermot Kelly.

The second is that the provincial government provides 15-minute mini meetings for local governments to meet with provincial ministers and staff. These are good advocacy opportunities. Langley City Council met or is meeting with:

• MLA Christine Boyle, who is the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs to ask to continue to support the redevelopment of the Langley Lions Housing project to support more housing options for lower-income seniors, expand the Heart and Hearth program to Langley to support people who are living rough, and provide more long-term housing option in Langley with support to help give people a way out of homelessness.
• MLA Josie Osborne, who is the Minister of Health to ask for complex-care mental healthcare beds for people in Langley, including for those who are living rough.
• MLA Amna Shah, who is the Parliamentary Secretary for Mental Health and Addiction to ask for the “Car” program or Mobile Integrated Crisis Response to launch in Langley. This program pairs a police officer with a nurse to provide on-site emotional and mental health assessments and crisis intervention when someone calls 911.
• Bobbi Plecas, who is the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure to ask for continued investment into health care infrastructure and schools in Langley to prepare for the arrival of the SkyTrain.

The third reason is to learn from others about what is happening in their community, including issues and possible solutions, either by attending panels and presentations or informally over lunch or dinner.

The conference runs all week. I’m attending Tuesday through Thursday, though we have representation from Langley City Council all week.

Latest Point-in-Time Homelessness Count Report Insights. Next Steps.

The Homelessness Services Association of B.C. released preliminary data for the 2025 Metro Vancouver point-in-time homeless count in July and recently released its finalized report.

One key note about the study is that it does not capture everyone experiencing homelessness. The data represents the minimum number of people experiencing homelessness. That being said, it is extremely valuable to show the trend in the number of people who are experiencing homelessness.

Unsurprisingly, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to grow in Metro Vancouver. About 70% of people experiencing homelessness are in Vancouver and Surrey. Places that traditionally have had a limited number of people experiencing homelessness, such as Delta and White Rock, are also seeing increases, though at a much lower rate. In total, 5,232 people were identified as experiencing homelessness in the 2025 point-in-time count.

The following chart shows the number of people experiencing homelessness in Langley City and Township over the years. Data split by municipality is not available in the report.

In total, 243 people, 5% of the total count in Metro Vancouver, were experiencing homelessness at the time of the count in Langley City and Township. 138 people were unsheltered, meaning they weren’t temporarily sheltered in places like the Gateway of Hope.

Some other notes are that Indigenous people are overrepresented in the population of people experiencing homelessness as a result of intergenerational trauma, residential schools, and colonial practices.

Another alarming trend is that the length of time people are experiencing homelessness is increasing. Up until 2020, about half of the people were experiencing homelessness for more than a year. In 2023, this increased to 69%; by this year, it was 75%. This trend means that people who are experiencing homelessness do not have pathways out of homelessness.

About 2/3rds of people experiencing homelessness have mental health and substance challenges from the point-in-time data.

So, what does this mean, and where do we need to go?

The provincial government must continue to invest in long-term mental health care with housing. This is essential. They must also increase treatment options for people with substance use issues. With these options in place, people will have a path off the streets or emergency shelter services. Expanding and investing in these areas will help a large number of people who are currently experiencing homelessness.

New Report: Langley City and White Rock Most Affordable Places to Live in South of the Fraser

There is an old saying, “drive until you qualify,” when it comes to housing in urban regions. The thought being that the cost of living is lower the further you get from core urban areas.

Back in 2015, Metro Vancouver Regional District staff challenged the assumption in their report, “The Metro Vancouver Housing and Transportation Cost Burden Study – A New Way of Looking at Affordability.” I posted about it over 10 years ago, and you can read more about that first report. It challenges the assumption that it is cheaper to live further out.

The cost of transportation is similar to the cost of housing for many people, which is why, when evaluating affordability, you need to consider both housing and transportation costs.

The short of it is that it found that when considering housing and transportation costs, it was actually most cost-effective to live in places like New Westminster than in Delta.

A lot has changed in the last decade, and Regional District staff have updated this report for 2025. One of the significant differences in the report is that it provides a more fine-grained mapping of affordability. So instead of “the Langleys” or the North Shore, you can go down to the neighborhood level in this 2025 update.

Combined housing and transportation costs by neighborhood in Metro Vancouver. Select the map to enlarge.

What becomes apparent is that the total cost of housing and transportation is lower in areas with higher densities and good transit access, no matter where you are in the region.

Map of Urban Centres and Frequent Transit Development Areas. Select the map to enlarge.

To drive the point home, the following table from the report shows this. The northern part of Langley City is an urban centre.

Combined housing and transportation costs by area type, UCB = Urban Containment Boundary ($ thousands)

At a municipal scale in the South of Fraser, the most affordable communities to live in for housing and transportation costs, from most to least, are:

• Langley City and White Rock: $38,000/year
• Surrey: $43,000/year
• Delta and Township of Langley: $47,000/year

For more information, please read the full report, “Housing and Transportation Cost Burden Study - 2025 Update.”

Taking Actions for Secure and Clean Redevelopment Sites

In Langley City, all new housing and commercial property projects are redevelopment projects, which typically involve the demolition of older buildings. While there have always been a small number of projects that stall, the number of stalled projects has increased markedly over the last year, as the cost of construction and financing has risen, and the selling price of housing and commercial properties has declined.

As a result, we’ve seen an increase in buildings slated for demolition that are empty, properties that are poorly maintained (such as by not controlling weeds or mowing lawns), and some that are improperly secured. The results are an increase in unsightly properties, people breaking in and camping inside these properties, and fires. All of this is completely unacceptable as it creates safety risks for the whole community.

In the past, it was typically weeks between when a building was vacated and demolition occurred; now it is months or even longer.

The City has always had a team that includes development services, police, fire, and bylaws to address these types of properties, but we need to augment this approach.

The City is actively working on updating the requirements for maintaining clean and secure properties and buildings slated for demolition. For example, this will include prescriptive requirements around securing windows and doorways, site fencing, property maintenance, and monitoring. These requirements will be communicated to existing site owners who have projects going through the redevelopment process, and they will be a requirement for all new redevelopment projects. Council may also need to update policies. These changes are happening ASAP.

As I noted, the best action is to have a very small window between when a building is vacated and when it is demolished. Even so, enhancing requirements for maintaining secure and clean properties will benefit the entire community now and into the future.

Transit Advocacy in Ottawa for TransLink Mayors’ Council: Day 2

Transit is a key to making life affordable, reducing congestion, and growing the economy, allowing people more access to jobs and opportunity.

Mayor Linda Buchanan (from the City of North Vancouver) and I are in Ottawa for two days, advocating for increased transit funding for Metro Vancouver on behalf of the TransLink Mayors’ Council. This advocacy includes funding for enhanced bus service, bus rapid transit, and rapid transit.

Mayor Buchanan delivered the keynote address and call to action around transit funding at the Canadian Urban Transit Association Policy Forum, noting that you cannot build housing without building transit, and that we need the federal government to come to the table, as transit is key to meeting their housing objectives and strengthening the Canadian economy.

Later in the day, on a panel, I spoke about the importance of building grassroots support for improving transit, as that is the only way to attract local, provincial, and federal dollars to expand our systems to meet our growing needs.

We then met with MP Taleeb Noormohamed, MP Wade Grant, and MP Jake Sawatzky to discuss a “Team BC” approach to ensuring the federal government invests in transit for our province and Metro Vancouver.

Transit Advocacy in Ottawa for TransLink Mayors’ Council: Day 1

Transit is a key to making life affordable, reducing congestion, and growing the economy, allowing people more access to jobs and opportunity.

Yesturday and today, Mayor Linda Buchanan and I are in Ottawa on behalf of the TransLink Mayors' Council advocating for increased transit funding for Metro Vancouver. This advocacy includes funding for enhanced bus service, BRT, and rapid transit.

Today, Mayor Buchanan will also deliver the keynote address at the Canadian Urban Transit Association Policy Forum, and I will be on the panel “Funding the Future of Canadian Transit.” Then more advocacy to MPs!

Federal Policies Mean 2026 Population Decline in Metro Vancouver

Over the past few years, population growth has been significantly higher than typical in Metro Vancouver. While the typical growth rate has been between 1% and 2%, starting around 2021, population growth increased to approximately 4.5%. This higher growth rate put strain on local government services, among other things.

Metro Vancouver Regional District growth rate. LG = Low Growth, MG = Medium Growth, and HG = High Growth. Select the chat to enlarge.

With the recent change in federal immigration policies, the Metro Vancouver Regional District projects that the region’s population will decline by approximately 0.1% in 2026 before stabilizing at around 1% annually, which has been the typical growth rate in the region. The Regional District’s staff report does note that “until federal policies stabilize, projections will remain more volatile and subject to change.”

From a local government services delivery standpoint, it should allow us to catch up a bit. I’m hopeful other orders of government will do the same.

The following map highlights that, over the long term, immigration is expected to drive population growth in Metro Vancouver.

Projected annual average medium growth migrations for Metro Vancouver between 2028 and 2054. Select the map to enlarge.

Metro Vancouver’s population is expected to reach 4 million by 2047. Langley City’s population in 2024 was estimated to be 35,316, and is projected to be around 45,000 by 2047, according to the region's updated medium growth modelling.

Representing, Governing, and Advocating Is a Three-Legged Stool. Langley City’s Upcoming Ottawa Mission.

Being an effective local government politician has three broad requirements.

One requirement is to represent your community at City Hall and around town. It means bringing policies, plans, and ideas that you believe will cause the most good for your community to City Hall. It also means helping people find the right person to talk to or process to follow when engaging with their municipal government.

Another requirement is to know how to govern effectively. This means working with others at City Hall and the region to turn policies, plans, and ideas into actions that provide the most good for your community. It also means working to ensure the municipality remains focused on delivering the most value for the community.

The third requirement is to advocate for your community, especially to the provincial and federal government, as many of the most significant challenges communities face require the support of those orders of government.

This blog began 17 years ago, when I was part of VALTAC, which advocated for the restoration of the Interurban train. I learned that the most effective way to advocate is to build genuine relationships with people, including those who have the ability to further what you’d like to see accomplished. You don’t build relationships with emails, letters, or Zoom calls. Relationships are built face-to-face and in person.

Langley City Council has done a pretty good job of building relationships with folks in the provincial government. Individually and as a group, we’ve met and chatted with many people, including by sending envoys to the Vancouver Provincial Cabinet office. Building these relationships has helped secure provincial funding and services for our community.

One area where we need to improve our advocacy efforts is at the federal level. Quite frankly, the lack of advocacy is likely why our community was passed up many times for federal funding programs. To establish relationships with federal government officials, we conducted our first mission to Ottawa in April 2024. You can read more about this on Langley City’s website. What really stood out to me is that many in Ottawa had no idea that Langley even existed (City or Township), so we had our work cut out for us.

Lunch Meeting with MPs during 2024 Ottawa Mission. Select image to enlarge.

Meeting with MPs during 2024 Ottawa Mission. Select image to enlarge.

Building on our last mission, we are planning another trip to Ottawa this fall. Councillor Albrecht, Wallace, Leith, White, and our CAO, Francis Cheung, and I will be building relationships and advocating for our community. Some specific advocacy topics include:

• Increasing immigration and settlement support for Langley
• Renewing the Building Safer Communities Fund
• Funding Langley City’s infrastructure needs
• Updating the building height restrictions within the Langley air zone

As I did last time, I will keep you updated on the progress of the mission

Like a three-legged stool, if one of the legs is missing, it's just not going to work. I believe that Langley City Council is representing, governing, and advocating for our community to the best of our ability.

September 8 Council Notes: Black Business EXPO, ReStore Property-Tax Exemption Request, and Housekeeping

Langley City Council received two delegations at its Monday night meeting. The first delegation was from Adebola Ige, who is part of the Yoruba Social & Cultural Association of BC. The organization is hosting a Metro Vancouver Black Business EXPO at Surrey City Hall on October 18th. The expo helps promote Black and other minority-owned businesses. They were looking for Langley City to get involved, and the possibility of holding an event in our community. They asked what support the City could provide to help minority-owned businesses. We invited them to apply for a Langley City Community Grant and also promised to connect them with our Socio-Cultural and Economic Development Advisory Committee.

The next delegation was from Habitat for Humanity of Greater Vancouver, which operates ReStore. ReStore sells newly donated and used quality home goods, furniture, and building materials. They explained the good work they do in our community and requested a property tax exemption to help support their efforts. Council members expressed their gratitude for the work they do in our community, and directed them to our finance team to ensure they have all the required information to submit a property tax exemption request, which Council would consider along with other such requests at an upcoming meeting. If Council granted them a permissive property tax exemption in the 2025 tax year, the amount of the city-controlled property tax would be around $71,400, which would have required the City to raise property taxes for other property owners by about 0.15%.

Later in the meeting Council approved an update to our CO-74 minute-taking policy. This was a housekeeping change to ensure minute-taking follows best practices and to reduce ambiguity about what should and should not be included in meeting minutes. Council also updated our deputy mayor rotation. The deputy mayor acts as the mayor in the mayor's absence.

Investing in the Basics: Repaving 55A Avenue in Brydon and Other Areas

Some of the roads in the Brydon neighbourhood are in rough shape, especially 55A Avenue and the north section of 198 Street. Earlier this year, Council approved a $2.3 million storm sewer renewal project on 198 St between 55A Ave and 54 Ave. This section of road will be repaved once the storm sewer project is completed.

Last night, Council approved a $508,533 tender to GB Paving Ltd. to repave several sections of road in our community, including 55A Avenue between 200th Street and the Surrey border.

As part of the same tender, they will repave a section of Fraser Highway, near 203rd Street, and a section of Douglas Crescent near 208th Street.

Sections of Douglas Crescent and Fraser Highway are being repaved (as shown in red). Select the map to enlarge.

Section of 55A Avenue being repaved (as shown in red). Select the map to enlarge.

The repaving of sections of 55A Avenue, Douglas Crescent, and Fraser Highway is scheduled to start this month and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Tracking Langley City’s One-Year Provincial Housing Order Target and Guidance

Like most urban municipalities in BC, Langley City has a provincial housing order from the Minister of Housing, which sets out the minimum number of housing units the provincial government wants to see built in each municipality over the five-year period from 2024 to 2029.

Langley City’s housing order cumulative targets are:
251 units in 2024-25
541 units in 2025-26
890 units in 2026-27
1,318 units in 2027-28
1,844 units in 2028-29

By July 31, 2029, the provincial government expects at least 1,844 units of net new housing to be built in Langley City. The type of units does not matter for this target number. The goal of the housing order is to ensure that municipalities have plans, policies, and approval processes that support the construction of these new units. If a municipality fails to meet its target, the provincial government may intervene.

Of course, there are other forces at play that impact housing construction, such as financing costs, material costs, and labour, which municipalities have no control over. For example, I’ve noticed a slowdown in new housing applications in Langley City this year, which is due to financing and construction costs outside of the City’s control.

Langley City must report annually to the provincial government on the target housing order. For the reporting period from August 1, 2024, through July 31, 2025, 533 net new units of housing were completed and ready for occupancy. This number exceeds our year-one provincial order.

The provincial government also set up what they estimate the bedroom count, tenure, and affordability type should be between 2024 and 2029. The following table shows how the net-new housing in the City is tracking to the 5-year guidance.

	Year One Completions	Five Year Guidance	Percentage Achieved
Studio	56	598	9%
One Bedroom	320	389	82%
Two Bedroom	146	348	42%
Three or More Bedroom	11	508	2%
Total Rental	333	810	41%
Total Owned	200	1034	19%
Total Below Market Rental	0	420	0%
Total Supportive Housing	0	23	0%

While the number of three- or more-bedroom units was low during this reporting period, I expect it to increase as more townhouses and ‘plexes complete construction. Additionally, the upcoming BC Builds project and expansion of the Langley Lions Housing facility will deliver meaningful units at below-market rent (both of which are provincially funded.)

While Langley City is working on minimum below market rental and 3-bedroom unit requirements, which would apply to new housing construction projects, it won’t deliver the number of affordable units the province would like to see. Building a significant number of affordable units will require targeted funding from the provincial and federal governments.

As a note, supportive housing is for people who are experiencing homelessness as a way to transition from living rough to living independently. Also, the studio units guidance of 598 can be either studio or one-bedroom units.

Many Opportunities to Help Shape Langley City’s Future This Fall

For many folks, school is back in session, and summer holidays are becoming memories. Langley City Council is back into full gear with our first Council meeting after the August break on Monday.

There are many exciting initiatives in the City that you can participate in this fall, which will help shape the direction of our community for years to come.

Langley City’s Citizens’ Assembly on Community Safety has been meeting since March. Our Citizens’ Assembly is a form of direct democracy where community members were selected via a lottery system and to reflect the demographic makeup of our community. They will be making recommendations to Council this fall on actions we should take to continue improving safety in our community. Their recommendations are created by the Citizens’ Assembly members, not City staff or Council, although they are supported by data, experts, and facilitators. They will be hosting a Community Dialogue shortly, open to anyone.

Langley City is making needed investments in our community as part of the Invest Langley City vision. Some key aspects of the vision that require input from our community include a new performing arts centre, an expanded Timms Community Centre, and an indoor aquatic facility. Your feedback on these facilities will be crucial in informing how these projects can move forward.

Langley City is developing a new transportation plan and an on-street parking management plan. Further community feedback will be required for these two plans.

I know that the City will be working on other plans and strategies that are equally important, but have a more narrow focus, such as the Glover Road/KPU Innovation District plan. I wanted to highlight the plans that will have a community-wide impact.

There is a whole lot happening, but there is one easy way to ensure that you don’t miss an opportunity to contribute, and that is by heading over to Let’s Chat, Langley City! Your feedback is taken seriously and helps shape the City’s plans and strategies. If you always want to stay up to date, you can join the Let’s Chat, Langley City mailing list.

Upcoming Coffee with Langley City Councillors

Langley City Councillors will be hosting two “Coffee with Council” events at Station Cafe at Timms Community Centre on Saturday, September 6th and Saturday, September 20th from 10am to Noon.

This is a low-key, drop-in event where you can grab a coffee and a light snack, and engage in conversation with Langley City Councillors. For more information, please check out Langley City’s website.

Understanding the Hidden Meaning in Langley City’s Coat of Arms

Every so often, the Mayor’s Office gets a request for an official Langley City pin, which is the City’s Coat of Arms. We recently got a request, and it got me thinking. I was looking back through my past blog posts, and while I had previously posted about the City’s logo, which was updated in 2017, I had never actually written about the Coat of Arms and what it represents. Langley City is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, a perfect time to learn about our Coat of Arms.

The Langley City pin. While the pin says “City of Langley,” the actual motto is “Strength of Purpose, Spirit of Community.”

Langley City’s Coat of Arms was granted and is registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority, which is a service of the Governor General of Canada. The practice of officially granting and recording Coats of Arms dates back to the Middle Ages. Until 1988, they were granted by the Sovereign (King/Queen or their representative) in Canada. Coats of Arms are used as official identity marks, and they were traditionally used for sealing legal documents, although this practice is no longer in use today.

Coats of Arms convey a great deal of information through their design. So what do all the symbols and designs in Langley City’s Coat of Arms mean?

The arms or shield symbolize the crossroads of Yale Road (Fraser Highway), Glover Road, and the BC Electric Railway. The blue star of Innes in the centre of the shield represented “Innes Corners,” which was the original name of the crossroad and is named after Adam Innes, one of the original settlers in Langley Prairie. This is why the Coat of Arms is painted into the middle of the intersection of Fraser Highway and Glover Road/204th Street at the entrance of the Fraser Highway One-Way. You can learn more about this history in my video, The History of Langley City: Part 1.

The crest or top combines the rural coronet (small crown), which is the traditional emblem for municipal governments, with maple leaves for Canada and dogwoods for British Columbia. The canoe is a reference to the McMillan Expedition of 1824, which went through Portage Park in Langley City and led to the founding of Fort Langley. There is a plaque in Portage Park that shares the story of this expedition. The lion on the coat of arms is the Scots heraldic symbol for McMillan. The lion also symbolizes the determination of citizens to defend the City’s interests, which is why it is holding the flag.

The compartments or bottom blue and white bars symbolize the Nicomekl River, with the grass and lilies representing nature.

The elk represents nature and the land. The elk is wearing a medallion with wheat sheaves. This is a reference to Langley City’s original name, “Langley Prairie.”

The horse represents agriculture and industry. The horse is wearing a medallion with a cog wheel and a gold coin. The gold coin is a traditional symbol of commerce. The Fraser Highway One-Way was the original centre of commerce for Langley.

Coats of Arms are packed with a lot of meaning and tradition, including Langley City’s.