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Canmore council unanimously approves rainbow crosswalk

CANMORE – The Town of Canmore will work with the local high school Gay Straight Alliance to find a location for the a rainbow crosswalk.
Rainbow Crosswalk
Banff’s permanent rainbow crosswalk located at the intersection of Bear and Caribou was installed in 2018. Canmore council voted unanimously in June to stall a rainbow crosswalk in a prominent location after students from the local high school Gay Straight Alliance requested the municipality consider the project in support of the local LGTBQ+ community.

CANMORE – The Town of Canmore will work with the local high school Gay Straight Alliance to find a location for the a rainbow crosswalk.

On Tuesday (June 4), council unanimously approved a motion to direct administration to work with students from Canmore Collegiate High School on finding a prominent location in the community for the crosswalk.

Councillor Joanna McCallum said last year council identified it was long overdue for the community to raise a rainbow flag, and they did just that in May.

“It is also long overdue that we have a rainbow crosswalk and we are getting a rainbow crosswalk,” McCallum said. “I am happy to support the diversity and inclusion attached to this symbol.”

In May, students from the Canmore Collegiate High School GSA appeared in front of council to ask elected officials to consider a rainbow crosswalk in a prominent location for the community.

Chief Administrative Officer Lisa de Soto told council that no additional budget approvals would be needed by Public Works to create the multi-coloured pedestrian crossing.

“I talked to Public Works and they are confident they can do that project this year within their operating budget,” de Soto said.

Council directed administration to work with students to find a location. The CAO indicated some types of crosswalks in the community would be more difficult to redo as a rainbow, as the white markings are permanent. Others the markings are done with road paint and can be more easily changed.

“We want to find a prominent location … we will work with the high school group to choose one that is agreed to,” she said.

In 2018, the Town of Banff installed a rainbow pride crosswalk at the intersection of Bear and Caribou Streets in support of that community's annual Pride event.

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