Chilliwack candidates step forward for city council and school board with less than a week left in filing period

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Hill is the former publisher of The Valley Voice, an online publication in Chilliwack that operated for over a decade. The Valley Voice is now on Facebook.

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Kloot is a two-term councillor, small dairy farmer, realtor, and a married father of three sons, not to mention an outdoor enthusiast and avid photographer.

Jared Mumford is the current chair of the Chilliwack school board and co-chair of Chilliwack Healthier Communities. He is the founder and owner of a successful digital marketing and business development firm, SEO Visions, Inc

Nicole Huitema Read is the general manager of Community Futures South Fraser. At the age of 25, Read started her first business in the hospitality industry doing sales and marketing for hotels in different markets throughout B.C. and Alberta.

Soutar is a retired forester who serves as a director for the Fraser Valley Watershed Coalition, is active with Chilliwack Parks Society, and on the City of Chilliwack Parks and Trails Committee. She is similarly involved in the Gwynne Vaughan Park Society, the Great Blue Heron Nature Reserve Society, the Chilliwack Museum and Historical Society and Rotary Club of Chilliwack.

Westeringh is a longtime Chilliwack resident who operated a small dairy farm in Rosedale up until 2021, owned a small building company with his wife, and been a Chilliwack-area realtor for over 25 years.

The three confirmed school board candidates include, in alphabetical order, vice-chair Willow Reichelt, Brian Jordan VanGarderen, and Terri Westerby.

Image: Supplied by Chilliwack School District / Three candidates have filed to run for the Chilliwack School District in this fall’s municipal election. The filing period ends in six days.

Reichelt was first elected to the school board in 2018 and has served as both chair and vice chair. The Chilliwack native graduated from Sardis Secondary, earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a teaching certificate from University of Victoria, returned to Chilliwack and taught in SD33 for 14 years. After leaving the teaching profession, she became involved in community activism and supported initiatives such as You Belong Here, a rally in support of Muslims and other immigrants, acting as emcee for Fraser Valley March for Women, and organizing rallies in support of LGBTQS+ youth.

VanGarderen began his teaching career in 2015 working with students with exceptionalities at the School for the Deaf in Edmonton, before moving back to Chilliwack in 2017 and securing a job as a learning support teacher in Abbotsford. His campaign will address equity in education, inclusion for all students in Chilliwack School District, and communication with all parties involved in a child’s education.

Westerby is president and one of the founding members of the Chilliwack Pride Society, a facilitator of the Gender Support Network, the secretary of the Downtown Chilliwack Community Market Society, and the chair of the Sexuality and Gender Equity Committee through Chilliwack Healthier Communities. He works for United Way of British Columbia as a community builder for Sardis.