Bright Nights Christmas Train in Stanley Park is Temporarily postponed until Dec 7th and/or further COVID-19 updates.

The provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry expanded a public health order banning all social gatherings until Dec. 7.

Health Minister Adrian Dix said all major events are on hold. It means families will not be able to attend annual events such as the Stanley Park Bright Nights Christmas Train.

SOURCE: https://globalnews.ca/news/7478389/major-b-c-holiday-events-to-be-cancelled-amid-covid-19-order/

Bright Nights Christmas Train in Stanley Park

The Bright Nights train will once again be sounding its whistle and chugging through the sparkling magically-lit forest of Stanley Park this Christmas. Kids of all ages will be signing along to their favourite carols as they take in the whimsical displays along their ride.

The Vancouver Parks Board is excited to welcome you back to a nostalgic and much loved family event to help create a bright Christmas memory in a very challenging time. They have focused our efforts on making sure the train will be a fun, happy, and safe experience. This year, there will be no plaza lights and Santa won't be visiting. All the decorating efforts will be concentrated on the train ride itself. All the same memories of riding the train through countless twinkling lights will still be there.

Buy tickets starting November 6 at 10am

Tickets available online in advance only. There will be no same day tickets available on site.

Only valid ticket holders will be admitted to the site.

Due to limited capacity, we are not able to accommodate group bookings.

Buy tickets 

Information icon Service fees and charges apply.

Hours of operation

Dates Times November 26 to January 14pm to 10pm

Information icon Closed December 25, 2020

There will be one train every 20 minutes with limited tickets per train. The last train is scheduled for 9:40pm.

Ticket holders must board the train at the time specified on their tickets due to restrictions on capacity. 

Ensure that you are at the front entrance 30 minutes in advance of your train ride to join the queue in the designated waiting area. Be prepared to enter the site as soon as the preceding train has boarded and is enroute. 

Latecomers may not be accommodated.

Ticket prices

Age Price: All ages 3 and up$10 + GST Children 2 and under Free

Information icon Service fees and charges apply to advance ticket sales

LEARN MORE: SAFETY PROTOCOLS, ACCESSIBLITY, FOOD AND BEVERAGE

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BC Professional Fire Fighters' Burn Fund

A favourite holiday tradition for the community and fire fighters alike, Bright Nights is also the single largest fundraiser for the BC Professional Fire Fighters' Burn Fund  While a full-scale light display is not possible this year, fire fighters will add some holiday spirit by hanging lights from the gate entrance to the Christmas Train. Be sure to stop by the gate and make a cash donation in support of burn survivors and their families.

The Burn Fund has launched a Bright Nights 50/50 raffle to raise important funds enabling burn survivor programs to operate year round.

Location

Bright Nights is located on Pipeline Road in Stanley Park, via the West Georgia Street park entrance.

Take public transit , ride your bike, or walk.

Free parking compliments of the Vancouver Park Board

The railway lot will be open mainly for pedestrian use this year, with limited disabled parking and a drop-off/pick-up zone. Free event parking is available in the main lot across Pipeline Rd after 3pm daily. Vancouver Aquarium lots are paid lots during Bright Nights operations.

Overflow lots include the Info Booth, North Pipeline Road, and Beaver Lake lots. These lots are free parking after 3pm only.

New Raffle from your BC Fire Fighters

BRIGHT NIGHTS 50/50 TICKETS ARE ON SALE!

Deadline: Midnight, Thursday, December 31, 2020
Draw: Monday, January 4, 2021 9:00 AM

Bright Nights 50/50 Until Midnight, December 31stCountdown

Bright Nights is the Burn Fund's largest annual fundraising event, raising important funds which support burn survivors across BC and the Yukon. Due to COVID-19, the traditional, full-scale Bright Nights light display will not move forward and the Christmas Train will operate at a reduced capacity.

The charity of BC’s professional fire fighters, the Burn Fund supports burn survivors through every step of their healing journeys. Please consider purchasing a 50/50 raffle ticket to support important Burn Fund programs.

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Supporting Burn Survivors for 42 Years

From enhancing survivor care at BC’s trauma hospitals to providing emotional support for survivors of all ages, the Burn Fund is there for survivors through every step of their recovery journey. Today, we have programs such as Little Lionhearts Family Camp, Youth Burn Camp and THRIVE program for young adults..

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Fire and Burn Prevention

More than 1,000 adults and children are treated at VGH and BC Children’s hospital each year for burn injuries. The Burn Fund helps educate families and children about prevention through annual campaigns, including Fire Prevention Week.

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A Home Away from Home

The Burn Fund Centre offers accommodations for burn survivors and their families traveling to Vancouver for treatment. This home away from home includes eight suites and amenities to support these families in their time of need.

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Resilience-Building Programs

The Burn Fund offers resilience-building programs including the Future is Mine adult burn survivor programs which focus on peer-support and mental health workshops.

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BRITISH COLUMBIA FIRE FIGHTER ELECTED TO PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE

IAFF affiliates in British Columbia are celebrating a major election victory, including the first-ever election of a fire fighter to the province’s legislature.

Mike Starchuk, a retired Surrey, BC Local 1271 fire fighter and former Local 1271 secretary, was elected October 25 in the Surrey-Cloverdale riding as one of 55 New Democratic Party (NDP) legislators who will form a majority government. He was elected on a wave of support from Local 1271 and its members and from IAFF locals and members across the region who made personal campaign contributions, installed lawn signs, rang doorbells and dropped leaflets on his behalf.

Starchuk, who retired in 2014 and then served one term as a Surrey city councillor, has strong ties to the IAFF. He’s an IAFF Partnership Education Education (PEP) instructor and former District Field Services Representative (DFSR) and is also known throughout the province as a staunch defender of fire fighters having won $11 million in claims as a workers’ compensation advocate, a role he held until recently. Starchuk is an honorary member of the British Columbia Professional Fire Fighters Association (BCPFFA).

In a message on his website, Starchuk, who won 50 per cent of the vote in his riding and defeated a longtime Liberal incumbent, says he is proud to be the first NDP candidate elected in the province’s Surrey-Cloverdale riding and proud to be the first fire fighter elected to the British Columbia legislature. He gives thanks to the members of Local 1271 in Surrey.

Surrey Local 1271 President Saverio Lattanzio says he is extremely proud of the grassroots work members of his local and nearby locals did in a short, 30-day period between the election call and polling day, and the amount of money that fire fighters personally contributed to his campaign. Only personal campaign contributions are permitted in British Columbia and IAFF members contributed significantly to Starchuk’s election effort.

Having a fire fighter in the legislature as a member of a majority government will be a great boost to the BCPFFA, which has 53 locals and 4,130 members. The BCPFFA lobbies the British Columbia government annually on a number of key issues, such as occupational disease presumptions and emergency medical response.

“There’s no question the IAFF’s voice will be carried stronger and louder in the British Columbia legislature with Mike Starchuk there,” says BCPFFA President Gord Ditchburn.

Overall, the BCPFFA fared extremely well in the election; it endorsed a total of 55 NDP and Liberal candidates and 51 were elected, a record of 92 per cent. ( Source, https://www.iaff.org/news/british-columbia-fire-fighter-elected-to-provincial-legislature/ )

IAFF Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial – Virtual Ceremony

September 19, 2020
10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (11am MT / 1pm ET)

With the significant health concerns related to COVID-19 and all the restrictions across the U.S. and Canada, the IAFF Executive Board on May 14, 2020, approved a motion to conduct the 2020 Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial ceremony without attendees, broadcasting it as a respectful virtual ceremony on September 19, 2020. We will still be engraving members’ names on our Wall of Honor this year and will note those etched on our Memorial during the virtual ceremony.

You can watch the ceremony from this page or on YouTube (www.youtube.com/IAFFTV/live) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/IAFFonline).

At this year’s memorial service, the IAFF will add 245 fallen fire fighters from the United States and Canada to the Wall of Honor.

2020 Wall of Honor

No IAFF staff or Colorado Springs Local 5 members will be available to provide assistance, so we ask everyone to avoid visits to the Memorial site during these times of significant health challenges presented by COVID-19.

All 2020 honoree families will be invited to attend the 2021 Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial where our fallen members will receive proper recognition along with those lost in 2020 at a traditional ceremony, with all families receiving their flag.

Like all of you, we are disappointed that we are unable to hold our memorable, beautiful ceremony, but the IAFF believes this is the safest and best path to ensure that we honor our fallen this year as best we can under the circumstances, guided by the information available to us today.

We will continue to provide updates on plans for the virtual ceremony. For more information, contact fffm@iaff.org.

Working the Front Lines

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Resilience Without Barriers Fund

About the Resiliency Without Barriers Fund

For years, the BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Association has undertaken significant work building partnerships and outreach to support resilience-building initiatives for their members.

In this time of pandemic, our hospital workers are experiencing trauma and are incredibly vulnerable to experiencing psychological injuries, similar to fire fighters and all first responders. Yet, today, when we speak about our health care workers, we speak about personal protective gear and additional testing. We are not addressing their mental health.

The BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund is hoping to capitalize on this tremendous work to support all emergency workers during this pandemic and provide access to five fully funded sessions with a clinician, through specially-trained trauma clinicians at First Responder Health Services.

Hospital workers will have access to counselling through EAPs but, as our fire fighters have learned, these mainstream counsellors are often unable to relate to traumatic incidents of first responders and emergency workers.

Your Donation

Your donation to the Resilience Without Barriers Fund will support specially trained counselling for all emergency workers struggling with their mental health during the COVID-19 crisis.

Your Impact:

$105 provides 1 counselling session for an emergency worker

$525 provides 5 counselling session for an emergency worker

$1050 provides 5 counselling sessions each for two emergency workers

Mike Hurley is a Finalist for the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards 2020

Canadian Immigrant magazine has officially begun the online voting stage for the 12th annual RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards 2020, and we are pleased to say that our very own Mike Hurley has been chosen to be one of the top 75 shortlist.

These awards are known as a People's Choice Award, so voting is an important part of the process to narrow down the shortlist to the final Top 25. We would appreciate it if you would go to https://canadianimmigrant.ca/canadas-top-25-immigrants/vote between now and August 7th, 2020, to vote for Mike Hurley.  Mike’s biography is posted there as well. The Top 25 winners will then be announced online in September 2020 and be featured in the September print edition of Canadian Immigrant magazine.

MIKE HURLEY’S BIOGRAPHY

Mayor of Burnaby

City: Burnaby

Country of Origin: Northern Ireland

Mike Hurley was born in Magherafelt, Northern Ireland, in 1958 and came to Canada in 1983 at the young age of 25. Music and Gaelic football dominated his youth as did soccer, which advanced him to a semi-professional league.

He first settled in Vancouver and moved to Burnaby in 1988. He joined the Burnaby Fire Department in 1988. Throughout his career, he’s held many positions — driver; technical rescue team member; hazardous material specialist; instructor; lieutenant, captain and acting assistant chief.

He was the vice-president of the Burnaby Fire Fighters Association from 1996-2001 and the president from 2001-2009. He was also the president of the BC Provincial Fire Fighters Association from 2008- 2016. 

As president of the Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund, he led the effort to raise $15 million to build a facility that accommodates families and burn unit outpatients for Vancouver General Hospital and BC Children’s Hospital.

His second “home” is with the Burnaby Fire Fighters Charitable Society. The society raises money for community groups and non-profit organizations, which supports more than 50 charities. More than $800,000 annually is given for bursaries and they operate a nutritional food program that benefits kids at 26 elementary schools, four high schools and four youth centres.

He was honoured to receive the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002 and the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.

Mike held the position of 6th District Vice President of the International Fire Fighters’ Association (IAFF) from 2016 to 2018, representing 10,000 IAFF fire fighters.

In October 2018, Hurley, running as an independent candidate, defeated long-time Burnaby mayor, Derek Corrigan.

He and his wife, Jennifer, have three boys who are in elementary school. He also has a daughter, who is attending Simon Fraser University.