Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media / The Good Neighbours project under construction in the Lickman Road parking lot along the Vedder Rotary Trail.

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Good Neighbours Project

Second phase of Good Neighbours project underway in Chilliwack

Sep 17, 2025 | 1:19 PM

CHILLIWACK — Tourism Chilliwack says Phase 2 of the Good Neighbours project along the Vedder Rotary Trail should be completed by next month.

Construction activities are visible and ongoing at the southern terminus of Lickman Road where a City of Chilliwack parking lot sits.

Meghan Pelley, brand and creative manager for Tourism Chilliwack, tells Fraser Valley Today the Good Neighbours project is being made possible “through the vision, dedication, and collaboration of our incredible partners and community.”

A new Welcome Portal, like at Peach Park, will invite visitors to pause, reflect, and connect with what Pelley called “this shared home.”

“It will be a place to learn the language of our Indigenous neighbours, deepen understanding of the land and water, and honour the connections that tie us all together,” Pelley said in an email to Fraser Valley Today.

INCLUSIVE WORK PROGRAM

New contract to help employ recycling depot workers facing job loss in Mission

8h ago

FATAL CRASH

1 dead after single-vehicle collision at Lougheed Highway Saturday

8h ago

Surrey Police Service say a nine-year-old has died after collision with large vehicle

10h ago

Alongside it, a 24-foot cedar sharing table will stand as a symbol of gathering and reciprocity. With indigenous plants woven into its design, it will offer a beautiful space to share meals, stories, knowledge, and connection.

The content and specifics are still in development with more to come.

Earlier this year, the Good Neighbours Lhewá:mel public art installation was unveiled along the Vedder Rotary Trail, at the mouth of Peach Park. The project is meant to serve as a Gathering Place and Welcome Portal, with architecture rooted in Indigenous knowledge by the Ts’elxwéyeqw Tribe.

Image: Mike Vanden Bosch / Pattison Media

“Rooted in the Sí:yá:ya Yóyes (Friends Working Together) Plan by Tourism Ch’illiwack, this initiative is a tangible step toward building relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities,” wrote Brian Minter, chair of Tourism Ch’illiwack. “The Gathering Place offers a space for learning, storytelling, and cultural exchange, while the Welcome Portal serves as an invitation to appreciate the land’s history and significance.”

Through interactive storytelling and design, the project hopes to encourage visitors to incorporate Indigenous values of finding humanity in the non-human and caring for the land as a living entity.