Municipal council voted 3-2 against a motion to install a rainbow coloured crosswalk in town leaving members of OUT Jasper visibly upset as they left the meeting on July 18.
The vote comes after OUT Jasper spent months fundraising more than $5,000 to install the crosswalk and an emotional plea from an LGBTQ ally last week to approve the project.
“I don’t know what to say,” OUT Jasper president Mychol Ormandy said as he wiped away tears outside the Library and Cultural Centre.
“I’m just really hurt because we worked so hard to make this happen and council declined.”
Despite council’s decision he said OUT Jasper would continue to fight to make it a reality.
“We’re never going to give up. We worked too hard.”
He was among a small group of supporters who were also visibly upset about the decision and promised to make it an election issue come October.
Coun. Gilbert Wall, Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey and Coun. Rico Damota all voted against the motion while Mayor Richard Ireland and Coun. Brian Nesbitt voted in favour. Coun. Dwain Wacko was absent.
Prior to the vote Coun. Keller-Empey asked if there was a policy or guidelines in place that council could use to make decisions on proposals like this.
Legislative services manager Christine Nadon said there isn’t a specific policy in place for crosswalks, but suggested the municipality’s policy on street banners could provide some guidance. She also said the municipality is working on a draft policy on proclamations and letters of support.
Coun. Damota appeared to initially support the motion, however he agreed with Coun. Keller-Empey and ultimately voted against the motion.
“I’m 100 per cent in favour of moving forward with a rainbow crosswalk in the community, but I don’t like to over step process or protocol in this matter and I think we should have something in place before we decide as a council to move forward,” said Damota.
Mayor Richard Ireland said he appreciated his colleagues’ concerns however he said he supported the motion because it was for a non-profit group, aligned with council’s strategic priorities and fit with its recent approval of a proclamation to foster an inclusive community.
“I think it aligns with our expressed values and I find sufficient comfort in that even though I do rather have a statement of principles to guide me, but I think there is enough guidance and there has been enough emphasis over the years on the benefit of inclusion so as I said I am inclined to vote in favour of the motion,” said Ireland.
Coun. Wall said it was a tough issue to speak against politically and took a shot at the Fitzhugh’s coverage last week describing it as “divisive.”
“I continue to speak against this and to my chagrin I continue to find myself agreeing with a lot of the right wing people on this one,” Wall said, adding he’d still vote against it even if there was a policy in place.
He said the issue is about identity politics.
“I just think when you define people on one or two aspects of their identity for me it’s the exact opposite of inclusivity because you’re narrowly defining a person by a very small part of their identity,” said Wall.
He used a light-hearted example of a municipality in Norway which installed a “Silly Walks” traffic sign as a good example of an inclusive crosswalk.
“Every human being that goes to that crosswalk has to walk silly across the crosswalk and I thought what a great inclusive thing do, everybody involved, nobody identified to whether you’re a queer, you’re straight or you’re a white Anglo-Saxon, heterosexual like me.”
Coun. Nesbitt said the discussion was healthy, but reminded councillors about the municipality’s vision statement which includes language about social equality.
“I certainly agree we don’t have a policy and we should, but until that social equality is there I think we need things like the rainbow crosswalk,” said Nesbitt.
Coun. Keller-Empey suggested the municipality could fly two rainbow coloured flags at each entrance of town while a policy is being made.
Paul Clarke
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