Chilliwack – Party politics on the Provincial and Federal scale are nothing new. Its fairly recent for parties to run municipal candidates in Vancouver, for instance.
With this 2026 cycle of municipal elections, we are seeing parties run candidates in the Fraser Valley for School Trustees, Council and FVRD Area Directors.
After an August 26 rally at a Chilliwack hotel, “Trustees for Change” announced their slate of candidates.
From their website: A group of independent candidates for Chilliwack School Board are forming an informal slate of five like-minded but nevertheless diverse individuals who are going to be campaigning on positive ideas to improve our schools and refocus our district’s priorities on the fundamentals.
This diverse group is specially qualified to handle the challenges ahead, with candidates bringing
◦ Years of public school teaching experience
◦ A track record in turning around failing businesses and organizations
◦ High level corporate governance and management experience
◦ Specializations with families, youth and child specific support
◦ A commitment to evidence-based decision making, and a group of open minds
The Candidates are:
Retired elementary school teacher Barbara Bednarski brings to her campaign substantial experience both inside and outside the public school system. Having taught in the public school system in the Franco-Ontarian belt of Northern Ontario, in the twentieth century, she brings a specific, practical and detailed knowledge of how schools run when focused on academic achievement and excellence. Furthermore, her experience teaching in communities with large indigenous populations and significant linguistic diversity situates her well in understanding the learning needs of students in our region.
After settling in the Fraser Valley, Barbara continued her volunteer work with adults and youth struggling with substance use, expanding on the over twenty years of service she had already dedicated to Overcomers of Sudbury—an organization that supports both former convicts and those recovering from addiction.
Barbara has also worked as the director of a shelter for homeless adolescent boys, situating her well to understand and meet the needs not only of ordinary students but the most marginalized and at-risk youth.
Finally, her work as a legal secretary and bookkeeper in Ontario equipped her with practical experience in legal and budgetary matters. This is exactly what the school board needs right now, as it grapples with shrinking enrollment and provincial budget cuts.
Barbara finished her working life here in the Fraser Valley as the manager and bookkeeper for Goat’s Pride Dairy in Abbotsford and has since settled in Chilliwack.
Barbara brings a multi-decade record of service in education, management, and the caring professions. In her experience as a caregiver, educator, and manager, she has seen first hand which policies succeed and which fail. She offers not just experience, but the practical judgment needed to navigate today’s complex challenges.
Michael Carter is a husband, father, lawyer and candidate for trustee on the Chilliwack Board of Education. Professionally, he is a partner at Cleveland Doan LLP, practicing commercial litigation. But, like most commercial litigators, Michael’s greatest successes come from negotiation not confrontation. Complex commercial litigation is about listening carefully, identifying the important issues and finding workable common ground among parties who disagree. These techniques for untangling complex problems are techniques Michael hopes to bring to his work as a school trustee, seeing the complexity but keeping focus on the students.
Michael lives in Yarrow with his wife and four children, who range in age from five to nineteen years old. Michael’s eldest is working on her Bachelor of Education at Trinity Western University, planning to become an educator.
Chilliwack’s role as a working agricultural community has been underutilized by School District 33. Michael knows, from growing up on a cattle ranch in the Cariboo, the breadth of pedagogical possibilities of having more closely allied food production and education systems. Since Aesop, educators have understood how well an understanding of animals, plants and ecosystems facilitates intellectual development. In addition, farm and ranch life are invaluable teachers of basic maintenance and construction skills.
Michael and his four children are part of a multi-generational large family system. In addition to his four children, he has seventeen nieces and nephews aged three to thirty-four.
Michael Carter epitomizes what is most distinctly Chilliwack: the understanding that faith and family are not adversarial to education or the life of the mind but mutually reinforcing. The process of restoring the partnership between families and educators that existed
Marina Garmon and her partner are concerned parents, whose youngest son is enrolled in the Chilliwack public school system. Marina is active in the movement for parental rights and education for all students within SD33. She brings a special concern and passion for the well-being of children from vulnerable groups and difficult home situations.
Before becoming active in electoral politics, Marina built a career, locally, around these same passions. Marina has 20 years of experience working hands-on in group homes that supported youth between the ages of 5-18. These youth presented with diverse emotional and behavioural challenges. Having grown up, in the system herself, she brings real world experience to understanding how best to include and uplift vulnerable and marginalized youth. Because of her upbringing, Marina finds it easy to connect with youth, at their level, and truly understand their challenges.
Marina stepped back from front line work a few years ago.
Over Marina’s quarter-century career, she has specialized in services providing youth, families, MCFD and Indigenous delegated childcare authorities with family and child specific support. She always ensured these programs fit each individuals specific needs.
Hugh Hamilton is a third-generation British Columbian who grew up in Greater Vancouver, where his mother served as the resident-manager of a pair of specialized psychiatric group homes, designed to assist in the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients. Following his graduation from Burnaby Central Senior Secondary, Hugh worked in corporate sales for Hume Travel Agency before obtaining a certificate in ESL education from the University of Saskatchewan. As an ESL educator and travel professional, he lived and worked in East Asia, primarily Taiwan, for seven years.
Following his return from Asia, he began a career with the Vancouver White Caps as a soccer ambassador and rose through the ranks to the position of Senior Manager of Ticketing and Service.
In 2017, he began his career as a life and business coach, working first as White Caps’ FC “inside coach” before being formally accredited in 2020 with 250 coaching-hours. Since moving to Chilliwack in 2022, Hugh has brought his expertise as a problem-solving business coach to local companies like Hofstede’s. He has also taken on short-term general manager contracts with Chilliwack FC and Controlled Bolting to solve specific operational issues. While maintaining his career as a business coach, Hugh has also worked as regional sales manager for Pacbrake since 2025, covering business in BC, Alberta and Texas.
Hugh’s wife is of Mexican ancestry, and they maintain a bilingual household, speaking Spanish and English with their daughter, who is enrolled in a public school in Chilliwack. Hugh is also an active volunteer there, helping with field trips, sports, and homework coaching. He and his family are physically active, engaged in hiking, camping, soccer and pickleball.
Hugh brings a multi-decade track record of bridging cultural and linguistic divides through practical problem-solving and sport. His background as a business coach qualifies him to take on the serious administrative and financial challenges District 33 is facing and ensure that efficiencies are achieved without compromising the quality of the education received by his daughter and her peers.
Cary Moore is running for School District 33 trustee because Chilliwack students, parents and caregivers deserve a board that puts measurable academic achievement, parental rights, and practical support ahead of ideology. A long-time resident since 1985, husband, father and foster parent for 35 years, he and his wife raised 64 foster children and adopted four – including two brothers high on the FASD spectrum and a daughter with complex special needs. They have been strong advocates for inclusion and parental support. As a former business owner who hired young people straight out of high school, later a WestJet crew member and a real-estate agent, and a school PAC and DPAC leader (Indigenous Rep and BCCPAC Rep), Cary brings real-world experience and a clear understanding of how parent voices shape policy.
He introduces himself as an individual first – not a collection of labels. He happens to be Metis, a conservative with a strong faith, a family man and entrepreneur, but none of those define him. He believes education should equip every student, including the next generation of Indigenous kids, to succeed through skill, character and merit. If you want a school board focused on teaching children to read, write, calculate and think critically, j
