The Matsqui cattle barn where six farmworkers nearly lost their lives when the building caught fire. There were no fire alarms or emergency exits.
"The B.C. government's refusal to apply its own legislation or to approve municipal bylaws, setting out livable housing standards for Fraser Valley farmworkers, came close to claiming the lives of six workers in a cattle barn fire this morning." - CFU letter to then health minister Jim Neilsen, Feb 1, 1983
"...Matsqui council passed a bylaw last year that stipulated the use of smoke alarms, general cleanliness levels for kitchens and bathrooms, exits, windows, and a minimum clearance between walls and rooms, but the B.C. health ministry has refused to authorize the bylaw....Richard Bassett, Neilsen's executive assistant, confirmed the union's charge saying that 'our legal people indicated that the bylaw was inconsistent with existing provincial legislation.'" - Reporter Rick Ouston in the Vancouver Sun, Feb. 17, 1983