Denied a Rainbow Crosswalk...... four times in a row

When two dear friends of 15 years asked if I would advocate for a Rainbow Crosswalk at Wellington and Mill Street on their behalf, I wholeheartedly threw myself into the task of helping them to feel celebrated and loved in our Historic Downtown. It was 2019, and 43 Rainbow Crosswalks had already been installed across the Province; it was a slam dunk!

We created a faux rainbow crosswalk with pieces of colourful Bristol board, and invited community members to come down for a photo shoot, each dressed in a solid colour. The photographs that resulted were breathtaking, and showed the potential for beauty, vivacity and celebration at a low traffic intersection where safety would not be an issue.

Photo by Sarah Sovereign Photography
Cover Photo for Rainbow Crosswalk for Chilliwack Facebook Page

Photo by Sarah Sovereign Photography, featuring her late father John Sovereign, previous member of the Mayor's Task Force

After the photo shoot, we collected hundreds of signatures in support of Rainbow Crosswalk at Party in the Park and at various businesses throughout town. We obtained almost twenty letters of support from surrounding businesses (over 80% of polled businesses were in favour) and over 100 beautiful letters written by community members advocating for this crosswalk to be installed.

The Rainbow Binder, ready to go!

To see the binder and hear about its contents visit this link(External link)

We made arrangements for a group to go to City Hall to attend our appointment with Esteemed Mayor Popove.

Photo by Sarah Sovereign Photography

Photo by Sarah Sovereign Photography

Mayor Popove asked if we'd like a delegation, and we were in favour of this idea. We left City Hall in high spirits, believing that our binder couldn't possibly fail! SO many signatures, beautiful letters, and business letters of support, combined with extensive research and charting from other communities's installation of Rainbow Crosswalks in BC.

We were open to crowd sourcing for the crosswalk, although our preference was for City Hall to pay for it, as had been the case in most cities that had installed them. Volunteers were standing by, ready to pressure wash, paint, and maintain any installed crosswalks. We all waited patiently to hear from City Hall, but were puzzled when we did not receive a reply. In the meantime, I followed and charted articles being posted by our local paper, and tracked the reactions from the general population to bring forward in our delegation.

Overwhelmingly, popular feedback was in favour of a Rainbow Crosswalk in Chilliwack.

Ultimately, we were not given the opportunity to speak. We were not even given the courtesy of being told that the matter was in an upcoming Council Agenda Package. Our application for a Rainbow Crosswalk was buried in an Agenda Package for a Tuesday meeting after a long weekend, only discovered by a 16 year old youth who went through all of the meetings with a fine toothed comb to see if we had been mentioned. We scrambled people together on short notice during a work day, aghast at how things were being handled, and after amassing outside and having an encouraging talk, went into Chambers in a peaceful group. 6/7 of our city's leaders voted no to a Rainbow Crosswalk at Wellington and Mill Street.

To say that people were devastated is an understatement. People were incredibly upset. One army Veteran was so overcome with emotion and disappointment that he swore at the Mayor, and was quickly escorted out of Chambers by trusted friends to weep outside.

Photo from the Chilliwack Progress

It was a sad day indeed.

But something incredible started to happen. Chief David Jimmie and Chief Derek Epp unfolded Rainbow Crosswalks on Indigenous Land (we walk in your footsteps, and are grateful for your leadership!). The Chilliwack School Board installed a Rainbow Crosswalk at their School Board Office. Kristy and Marty Van den Bosch installed a Rainbow Crosswalk on their driveway, and arranged to have one installed on mine too. Before and after that fateful day,16 Rainbow Crosswalks were painted in Chilliwack!

Yet still, the City of Chilliwack still does not have a city sanctioned and installed Rainbow Crosswalk. (Read the Chilliwack Progress Article here(External link))

Photograph by Jenna Hauck, Chilliwack Progress
Chief David Jimmie & Amber Price at the newly installed Rainbow Crosswalk in Eagle Landing

Lorna Seip of Two Girls on a Roll installing a Rainbow Crosswalk for Kristy and Marty van den Bosch

UFV installing their Rainbow Crosswalk

Love Mural on the back of The Book Man, designed by local artist Carter Ruffle, and painted by Mavik.

Rainbow Piano, as dreamed up and facilitated by Bobbypin's Curiosities in Downtown Chilliwack.

Chilliwack made national news, and our story became so infamous that it even made Bored Panda(External link).
Global Television interviewing a group of Rainbow Crosswalk advocates.

We set about doing extensive research to address any and all concerns that were expressed by Council during their No vote. We contacted all 43 municipalities that already had crosswalks to query them about these concerns, and went so far as to contact the Ministry of Transportation. We charted and documented every single one of these conversations, and found these concerns to be unsubstantiated with any lived experience. I took meetings with City Councilors from Richmond, staff from the City of Abbotsford and elsewhere, gleaning information.

Erin working away at the list of municipalities.

Erin's impeccable work, contacting each Rainbow Crosswalk municipality.

The letter that we sent to each City Councilor that we contacted.

We even fundraised the necessary fees and requested an FOI so that we could read all of the letters that city hall had received against the Rainbow Crosswalk. These letters were filled with so much fear, hatred, misinformation, prejudice, homophobia and divisiveness that our reading groups didn't know whether to laugh, or cry.

On our way to City Hall to go and pay for our FOI with crowdsourced funds.

The required paper to print the FOI that we requested

Our first night of our FOI paper sorting.

One of numerous meetings of sorting & classifying the "No" letters

Since then, I have re-requested a Rainbow Flag (denied) and submitted a second request for a Rainbow Crosswalk at Wellington and Mill, paid for in full, with maintenance costs covered by private citizens (also denied). This comes in the failed wake of Indigenous Leaders (Shayla Hall, we walk in your footsteps) asking for both a Rainbow Crosswalk (twice) and Pride Flag (Louise De Jaeger, we walk in your footsteps) to be provided by the City of Chilliwack, and also being denied. Four denials for a crosswalk now. Two denials for a Pride flag to be flown at City Hall.

I immediately put up a rainbow flag at my business and my home to heal my heart. (Note, I was immediately subjected to homophobia by my next door residential neighbour for my rainbow flag, which was bent to the ground shortly thereafter. I recently purchased a heavy duty steel pole that will be installed shortly).

Rainbow Flag at The Book Man, Chilliwack

This next paragraph is difficult for me, as I don't like to tout my accolades that have been granted to me.

I am a woman of influence in Chilliwack who has truly earned her seat at the table. My family's business has been in our Downtown Core for 30 years. I sit on influential boards, two of which had a nomination process that ultimately had to be approved by City Council, and have given thousands of hours of my life to community service and the betterment of the City of Chilliwack. I donate to local charities and support hundreds of local fundraising initiatives both personally and through my business. I have received a coveted Cultural Diversity Award for providing an Inclusive Environment in my businesses, and have been nominated as an Adult Champion of Diversity three times. I have been nominated for the Stan Rogers Legacy Award four times. I have won Best Business in Chilliwack three times, Retail Excellence twice, Employer of the Year, Environmental Hero, and more. In 2020 I was named Inspirational Leader by the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce. I received a Community Hero certificate from our MP Mark Strahl in 2020. I curated the Chilliwack Mural Festival, and organized the Downtown Chilliwack Walk for Peace. I report directly to the City during my Downtown Chilliwack Cleanup Crews, and have been featured on Global National. I don't mention these accolades to brag, but rather to imprint upon readers that even a woman with a great deal of privilege and a strong, respected voice could not make a difference.

All we asked for was for six coloured stripes to be painted on the ground to celebrate the THOUSANDS of LGBTQ2+ community members that we have in Chilliwack. I'm not sure where to go from here, but this is not my Chilliwack, and I am once again, asking for better. I do this for our youth, I do this for our LGBTQ2+ seniors, I do this for my family, colleagues, staff, friends, and for myself as a member of the LGBTQ2+ community. It is time to move forward. We are not 'marginalized citizens'. We are community members, and we belong here, and deserved to be recognized and celebrated for who we are, and what we contribute to the City of Chilliwack by choosing to live, work and recreate here.

I formally, and respectfully ask for the Task Force (that was implemented after the No vote) to use their unique position of influence to ask City Council and our Mayor to remove the undeniably homophobic bylaws that were voted in that prevent decorative flags to be flown at City Hall, or any decorative crosswalks to be installed in Chilliwack. It is time for change.

And, I am once again asking for a Rainbow Crosswalk to be installed at Wellington and Mill Street in our Historic Downtown. 5th time's the charm!Hold this vision in your heart. It will happen, I believe it.

Thank you for reading this. Wishing you and yours good health, peace and happiness during this strange time. Please feel free to contact me should you wish to speak further on this matter.