ANTIGONISH: The Town of Antigonish has passed a motion to paint a section of guardrail along St. Ninian Street to resemble a pride flag, one that could end up being the longest pride flag in the province.
During correspondence to council during their regular monthly council meeting on June 20, Councillor Andrew Murray made the suggestion to add a little colour to the approximately 150-foot guardrail, which is used as a fence along St. Ninian Street to resemble a rainbow; the most commonly known representation of the 2SLGBTQ2+ community.
Murray, who became the first openly gay town town councillor in Antigonish, made the recommendation on his birthday.
“So it was suggested by a group of friends,” he told council. “I could make this probably the longest Pride flags in the province.”
The section of fence conveniently has three sections; the red and orange will be located on the top section, the girder will be yellow and green, and the blue and purple will be on the bottom third.
“There’s a group of volunteers that would like to paint it,” Murray said. “And I think it would be very welcoming.”
CAO Jeff Lawrence advised most communities are moving toward something like this rather than Pride crosswalks as there are concerns with traffic standards.
The project would come with an initial cost of $400 to the town for the paint, and the town will provide routine maintenance to keep the Pride flag looking its best.
Councillor Mary Ferrell believes Antigonish is an open and inclusive community, and thinks this is one way the town can recognize that everybody is in this together.
“I think it would be a very interesting piece of art that people can take pride in, for lack of a better term,” Ferrell said. “And if this can be maintained, I see no reason against.”
Mayor Laurie Boucher agreed.
“It was a very timely item to have on the agenda actually,” Boucher told reporters following the meeting. “For Councillor Murray, this touches him personally and is very invested in making sure that people know the Town of Antigonish is welcoming and accepting to everybody.”
Boucher advised when the town was participating in the Pride flag raising ceremony and were walking up to Dr. John Hugh Gillis High School, Murray suggested the guardrail would be a wonderful way to display their support.
“We’ve had people come forward before to try to find different ways to show our commitment to being welcoming and accepting,” she said. “As our CAO Jeff Lawrence said, it’s just not in best practice to do crosswalks and a lot of municipalities are moving away from doing that now.”
The mayor advised she thinks utilizing the guardrail on St. Ninian Street is a great way to show support for the 2SLGBTQ2+ community and is happy council approved the motion.