Why some Canadian towns are seeing pushes to keep crosswalks white, let certain flags fly
2 Alberta towns developed laws last year to restrict non-white crosswalks, some flags
The only rainbow crosswalk in Westlock, Alta., about 75 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, has been painted white.
Roughly 35 kilometres to the west, in the town of Barrhead, four flags have been removed from municipal flag poles. Soon two crosswalks will be redone: one for pride, another supporting people with disabilities.
This comes after residents of each town voted in favour of neutrality laws that allow only white crosswalks, and for national, provincial, or municipal flags to fly on town flagpoles.
"Our hope was to see if people also wanted the town to just be neutral and basically a blank space," said Stephanie Bakker, spokesperson for the Westlock Neutrality Team, a citizen group. She was among those who petitioned for the town's bylaw.
"A place where everyone can just feel comfortable and welcome as they are."
It has been nearly one year since a plebiscite forced the neutrality bylaw in Westlock. Several months afterward, Barrhead citizens followed suit.
The towns are part of a swell in some Canadian communities, pushing for laws against decorative crosswalks and restrictions on some flags.
The rise comes as other municipalities add more colour each year, including Edmonton, which added 20 decorative crosswalks and alleyways in 2024 alone.
"Turning crosswalks into causes, that's not the way to go," said Ard Doornbos, spokesperson for Barrhead Neutrality, another citizen group.
Crosswalks are primarily used to regulate and guide traffic, and shouldn't support any political, social, religious or commercial entities, he said.
"It was a bit of a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Doornbos said about his town's incoming neutrality bylaw, adding that the decorative crosswalks were creating division.
"We have the same goal to make Barrhead a town where everyone loves to live."
But some people who spoke with CBC News feel the core of the issue isn't neutrality.
"It's to keep it the way it is", said Westlock Mayor Jon Kramer, adding that he thinks the new laws will do more harm than good.
Neutrality spreads
Residents in Westlock and Barrhead can still fly their own flags on private property. Freedom of expression in public spaces, such as through protests and rallies, are still protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Barrhead residents can still recognize the 2SLGBTQ+ community with pride month and the town will have a continuance of Indigenous Day, a Town of Barrhead spokesperson told CBC News in an email.
Yet, the push for neutrality is growing in Alberta: another group is working to bring similar changes in Leduc, a city just south of Edmonton.
"It's not the place of any government to elevate someone over others through bylaws and policies," said Shirley Thompson, with Leduc Neutrality.
Leduc has one rainbow crosswalk. The group, Thompson said, aims to start petitioning against it this year.
Bakker, of the Westlock Neutrality Team, believes more groups like hers are popping up because people are less afraid to stand up against something they disagree with.
"For the past several years, it's been social suicide to say you don't agree," she said.
"They're more willing to risk it."
Other communities in Canada are seeing similar revolts, including Minto, Ont., a town roughly 120 kilometres west of Toronto.
Last year, Minto residents presented a petition for neutral public spaces to town council with more than 900 signatures — about 10 per cent of the community's population.
Council denied the petition and didn't hold a vote, because it's not legally required in Ontario. They also said a referendum could be costly. (The Town of Westlock paid almost $20,000 on its plebiscite.)
The issue grew contentious. During a council meeting, one resident described the situation as "war-like."
Council later passed a motion forbidding councillors and town staff from discussing the issue with the town's chief administrative office, concerned that the ideological storm it created risked the community's reputation and could lead to legal challenges on human rights.
The Township of Norwich, in southern Ontario, banned non-government flags on its buildings in 2023, after multiple pride flags were stolen or destroyed at homes and businesses. Some homes were reportedly shot at.
Mayor Jim Palmer told CBC a minister visited him during the stressful situation "to make sure I wasn't going to blow my brains out."
Norwich has since decided to create a community flag pole, where flags representing various causes and ideas, including pride, could be flown for a set period.
The compromise lowered the temperature from boiling to lukewarm, said Palmer, who's doing better mentally.
Backlash against neutrality
The neutrality bylaw votes in Westlock and Barrhead last year were tight races.
In Westlock, 51 per cent of voters were in favour. In Barrhead, 57 per cent supported — although one-third of eligible voters cast a ballot.
The outcomes devastated some people in the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
"We're hurting right now," said Alana Hennessey, a Barrhead resident.
"It's definitely put doubt in my mind that this is where I want to call home."
Shaylin Lussier, who helped paint the rainbow crosswalk in Westlock, finds her town much less welcoming now.
"They thought a couple of colours would be the most possibly offensive thing to exist," she said.
Lussier has suffered abuse since the issue of neutrality came into the spotlight. She received messages from strangers, including one that was a threat to her safety, she said.
The messenger suggested that back in the day, "freaks like you would have been taken out back and… given a tune-up," she recalled.
Other types of crosswalks and flags don't elevate one group over another; they highlight people after they have been invisible for so long, said Shelley Craig, a University of Toronto social work professor and the Canada research chair in sexual and gender minority youth.
Youths who are 2SLGBTQ+ are up to six times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers, due to discrimination, stigma and rejection, according to Craig's research.
Various spokespeople from neutrality groups told CBC that they are not targeting 2SLGBTQ groups.
Craig disagrees, arguing that these conversations are only happening in communities with rainbow crosswalks or pride flags on municipal flagpoles.
In Barrhead, others are also disgruntled over the changes.
Criss Schaffrick, a disability advocate in Barrhead, said she received a letter from a youth in a wheelchair with an intellectual disability.
According to Schaffick, the child wrote that removing the disability crosswalk would make them feel "disconnected and unwanted" and that the community isn't standing up for people with disabilities.
The Town of Barrhead has also taken down the Treaty 6 flag, which represents an alliance of sovereign First National governments. Barrhead is on Treaty 6 territory.
"Talk about going backward 15 to 20 years; that is not reconciliation," said Robin Berard, an Indigenous knowledge keeper in Barrhead. She teaches community workshops on Indigenous culture and history.
"Why are they targeting the flag? The flag hasn't done anything to anybody," she said.
In a statement, the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nation told CBC the bylaw fails to acknowledge it is not a special interest group.
It also described removing the Treaty 6 flag as a mistake and a step backward.
"We hope this misunderstanding is corrected before it becomes an unfortunate precedent," the statement said.
The Legion, county and red ensign flags — the latter of which was the de facto Canadian national flag from 1865 to 1965 — have also been removed from flagpoles in Barrhead.
Westlock, 11 months after plebiscite
The Town of Westlock still aims to make its community inclusive.
Last summer, the town designated June as pride month — a first for the municipality. There are plans to build an accessible playground this year for children with mobility or developmental challenges.
Ultimately, the premise of a town being neutral is faulty, said Mayor Kramer.
Society is slanted, he said, pointing to taxes as an example. Some organizations are taxed while others, like churches, are not.
Some people in Westlock's 2SLGBTQ+ community are scared and feel unloved, said resident Lussier. But she believes the new laws will be challenged.
"Someone is going to reignite the fight — and it's going to be amazing," Lussier said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
