Alberta town to put proposed bylaw banning symbols such as Pride crosswalks, flags to plebiscite
CTV
A group in Westlock, Alta., is trying to ban crosswalks painted in rainbow colours and other symbols.
A group in Westlock, Alta., is trying to ban crosswalks painted in rainbow colours and other symbols.
After a crosswalk in the town 72 kilometres northwest of Edmonton was painted in the colours celebrating the LGBTQ2S+ community earlier this year, council in September received a petition asking for a bylaw restricting Westlock to flying just municipal, provincial and federal flags — and to limit all crosswalks to a white-laddered pattern.
The June crosswalk-painting event spearheaded by the gay-straight alliance at R.F. Staples Secondary School was approved by town council the month before.
"We thought it was a great opportunity for us to demonstrate we are an inclusive and welcoming community," Deputy Mayor Murtaza Jamaly told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday. "Council unanimously decided to donate a crosswalk for them to paint."
He said hundreds attended the event June 27, "a great demonstration of what I think our community really represents, which is this huge sense of tolerance and respect."
Town council on Monday put the decision on the petition for a new bylaw to a plebiscite — a direct vote by all people eligible to vote in the town — at the end of February.
Jamaly said that on Monday at town council, "there was a consensus around the table that we didn't feel that this bylaw was representative of our community."
