Moncton to fly rainbow banners, paint trail after crosswalk imbroglio

Moncton will paint a portion of its Riverfront Trail in rainbow colours and fly banners from Main Street lampposts in support of the LGBTQ community after deciding not to repaint downtown crosswalks.

Isabelle LeBlanc, Moncton's director of communications, said the city is producing a rainbow stencil to paint a portion of a trail near Assumption Boulevard near where Moncton's River of Pride holds events during Pride Week in August.

The work is expected to be done inmid-July, she said.

As well, 40 rainbow-coloured banners will be installed from mid-July to the end of August on lampposts between the CN rail line and King Street at a cost of $4,800.

"I'm satisfied," said Charles MacDougall, project co-ordinator with Moncton's River of Pride.

He said the organization that represents the LGBTQ community worked with the city on the new shows of support.

The move comes after two tie votes at a city council committee meeting last month meant the city won't repaint nine crosswalks in the downtown core. The crosswalks were painted in support of the LGBTQ community in 2016 and 2017 by city staff.

MacDougallsaid he isn't aware of any other city deciding to discontinue painting rainbow crosswalks.

River of Pride had called on the city to repaint the crosswalks, and MacDougall doesn't expect everyone will be satisfied with the compromise.

There is a "bitterness" in not having the crosswalks as more and more communities paint them, he said.

Provincial letter

The city opted not to repaint the crosswalks after Bill Fraser, New Brunswick's transportation minister, sent a letter in March to 13 southeastern municipalities advising them the province wouldn't approve rainbow crosswalks. Fraser cited a review of crosswalk paint colours by the Transportation Association of Canada, which sets design guidelines.

Staff saw a liability

After the letter became public, Fraser apologized and said the letter was sent by mistake and it would be up to each municipality to decide what to do whilethe association reviews whether multi-coloured crosswalks are safe.

Moncton city staff recommended city council paint its Main Street crosswalks white to avoid potential liability concerns. Staff said not following the guidelines opened the city to legal risk.

The questions about the crosswalks prompted months of confusion, which MacDougall described as disheartening.