Another Alberta town is eyeing up banning pride flags and crosswalks
A town in northern Alberta may soon ban pride flags and crosswalks, with a draft bylaw in the works after over 10% of the town’s population signed a petition demanding it occur.
The draft bylaw came about after a special meeting held by the Town of Barrhead, which is approximately 120 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.
In a public information package, the town stated that it received a petition on July 26 that called for crosswalks to only be painted in the standard white striped pattern between two parallel lines; that there should be no decorations on municipal crosswalks or displaying of flags supporting political, social, or religious movements or commercial entities; only national, provincial, and municipal flags should be flown at municipal facilities or flagpoles; and that there would be no grandfathering of existing crosswalks or flags that contravene the bylaw.
For a petition to be sufficient, the petition must be signed by the electors equal in number to at least 10% of the population.
The official 2023 Municipal Affairs Population List has the population for the Town
of Barrhead at 4,320, with 10% of the Town of Barrhead population being 430.
The total number of petitioners submitted to the Town of Barrhead landed at 851, with the total accepted petitioners coming out to 712.
Earlier this year, the residents of another Alberta town, Westlock, voted in favour of forbidding the town from flying non-governmental flags on municipal flagpoles or painting local crosswalks in a manner other than in a white, laddered pattern.
Barrhead’s town council has until early October to either bring in a bylaw in line with the wording of the petition or give the first reading to a draft bylaw and then schedule a public referendum within 90 days of the draft bylaw’s first reading.