Minto Council has adopted a new commemoration policy following a delegation from the Minto Pride group on June 18.
Minto Pride was there in response to recent delegations opposing the display of Pride decorations in public spaces. A petition with over 900 signatures was brought to council asking for them to make a by-law that would make public spaces "neutral." However, Minto Mayor Dave Turton says council decided on a different path.
"The council did not think that neutrality was appropriate, so we brought a commemoration policy for banner flying in our downtown areas. The policy is very clear, if people wanna fly a banner in our downtowns, they have to apply," Turton explained.
Turton says he feels what council did was fair to everyone, and they reiterated to everyone at the meeting on Tuesday that Minto is a place for everyone, and they won't be walking back their support for Pride initiatives in the area.
"We have the Pride crosswalk in town, it's been there for 3 or 4 years. We've had issues with vandalism to that crosswalk, Pride decorations whenever they go up, people stealing Pride lawn decorations, things like that, which are unfortunate and not what we stand for," Turton stated plainly. "In order to be inclusive we can't say no to a particular group and we've really never done that. If somebody wants to come forward and says 'Why don't we do this, this, or this,' the council of the Town of Minto, and many other councils, look at it in a way of 'Is this gonna benefit the town?'"
At the meeting on June 18, Turton says the Minto Pride group presented some educational pieces, including stories on why being inclusive of Pride initiatives is important.
"We had a young lady representing the Pride group and she was educating us, telling us stories of how children grow up to be adults, and they leave here and never come back because they're treated badly. Now, we hear stories about how some of the children that grow up stay, because we've made it known that we are inclusive and want everyone to be welcome here," Turton shared. "That simply isn't going to change."
Rosie Krul of Minto Pride says they continue to feel supported by council and their vision for the community.
"We're really lucky that we do have the council and mayor that we have, they've been great allies and really willing to educate themselves and learn more. Their whole thing is that Minto is where everyone belongs and we think our values really align well with their values," Krul shared. "One thing we said during our presentation is 'More, not less.' That's what keeps our communities growing and thriving, not taking stuff down, just adding more to it. There's not limited spaces for inclusion."
Krul says there seems to still be a lot of confusion about what the Pride flag represents, so she shared what the colours all mean.
"The yellow with the purple circle represents inter-sex people, the light blue, pink and white represents trans and non-binary people. The black and brown represent people of colour, as well as black representing people who have been lost over the years. Red stands for life, orange is healing, yellow is sunlight, green is nature, blue is harmony and purple is spirit. So, when people see that flag and think it represents something offensive, I would love for them to know that it only stands for positive qualities, as well as hope and resilience," added Krul.