Members and allies of the LGBTQ community in Petawawa, Ontario, are frustrated and seeking change after their mayor rejected their request to wave the Pride flag at City Hall, again citing a policy municipal that they believe is “obsolete”.
“We don’t have any Pride events in Petawawa. There’s nothing. Nothing at all. There’s no march, no picnics, no flags flying,” said Jennifer Neville, a neighbor who asks the city to reconsider his decision.
“Our people do nothing.”
It is not the first time that the municipality has refused to raise the Pride flag in the town hall, despite repeated requests from residents.
The council did not approve a motion last June to reconsider a decades-long resolution that prevents the municipality from waving the Pride flag, or any other flag that shows support for a cause, in municipal buildings. Resolution 11, passed in 1998, says the council cannot declare any “public proclamation” unless they “belong to matters that are only and completely within the immediate mandate of the council”.
Mayor Bob Sweet and Councilors Tom Mohns and Murray Rutz voted against the motion, defeating it. The motion needed the support of five of the seven board members to pass.
With Pride Month approaching June, Neville wrote a letter in May to City Hall on behalf of the city’s LGBTQ community, asking to meet with the mayor and councilors who voted in against changing the policy last year and making a formal request to blow up this year’s flag.
The councilors in the last row voted in favor of amending Resolution 11, to allow the municipality to show support for various events last June. The front row voted against the changes. From left to right: Coun. Tom Mohns, Mayor Bob Sweet and Coun. Murray Rutz. (Petawawa City Website)
In a letter dated May 31, Sweet reminded Neville of the city’s policy that he “respectfully refuses to support any statement” such as carrying the Pride flag.
“Neighbors must respect the fact that the council has policies … that must be complied with,” he wrote.
It would be so beautiful for the city I have lived in all my life to fly my flag.- Seth Crosby, high school student
Sweet told Neville that since the motion was defeated, it would not be reconsidered until 12 months have passed due to a statute, after June 21, 2022.
“At no time did council members vote against raising the Pride flag,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, many have misinterpreted it and made it a discussion about the Pride flag, when rather it is a discussion about whether the city council should amend or repeal its policy.”
Meeting with mayor unsuccessful, neighbors say
Neville, an ally of the LGBTQ collective, explained why it is important for the city to raise the flag this month.
“It is a beacon of hope and a sign of acceptance and inclusion [the] The pride community can identify and feel safe and accepted. “
She met with the mayor a few weeks ago, but received the same response: Resolution 11, something she calls an “obsolete” policy.
“It’s frustrating,” he said.
Seth Crosby holds a Pride flag. The high school student advocates that the municipality wave the Pride flag in its town hall. (Submitted by Seth Crosby)
Seth Crosby, a Petawawa high school student, joined Neville during this meeting.
“It was frustrating to say the same thing again,” Crosby said. “You feel stuck.”
Crosby says the policy should be modified to include the community it serves.
“At some point some rules need to be changed,” they said. “It would be really nice for the city I’ve lived in all my life to fly my flag and my colors. It would be really cool.”
MIRAR | The student says his opinion is often dismissed
Petawawa refuses to raise the Pride flag in town hall, invoking politics
Petawawa, Ont., Is currently adhering to a decades-old resolution that prevents the municipality from waving any flag on municipal buildings that show support for a cause. High school student Seth Crosby says it’s time for that policy to change.
The mayor says the city must be “neutral” at all times
In an interview with CBC, Sweet said Resolution 11 “has served this community very, very well,” keeping the city “neutral” in not making flags for any reason.
He noted the annulment of the protections for abortion by the United States Supreme Court established in Roe v. Wade, as an example he shared with Neville.
“The recent mess going on in the United States with Wade and Roe. Did I say which one should I proclaim? Should I proclaim the right to choose, or should I proclaim the right to life? It’s between a rock and a hard .place there, “he said.
“If we proclaim one, we will get 54% of the population in arms.”
MIRAR | The neighborhood describes being locked up by the mayor
Resident pushing for “some kind of recognition” for the LGBTQ community in Petawawa
Jennifer Neville, a resident of Petawawa, Ontario, says she has pushed the city to reconsider its decision not to fly the Pride flag during Pride Month in June.
He said he does not understand why residents are upset that the City Council did not raise the flag at the city council.
“I asked [Neville] that. I said, “What can’t you do in this city that you could do if we had a waving Pride flag?” Sweet said.
“Could you have a gay pride golf tournament? Could you have a gay pride ball tournament? Yes, yes, yes. What can’t you do that you could do with a flag?”
He said the LGBTQ community has come to the town hall to hoist the flag every year for the past four years.
Sweet said he has no plans to table the motion himself to debate the amendment to Resolution 11 and that he should be another board member.
He repeatedly said “I don’t know,” when asked if the council will debate the motion again this year.
Its next meeting is scheduled for July 4, days after the end of Pride Month.
“On the wrong side of history”
Becky Conroy says she and other members of Petawawa’s LGBTQ community are discouraged.
“I’m surprised because it looks like in 2022 this shouldn’t even be a discussion,” he said. “As a gay woman, as a member of the LGBTQ2S + community, she is insulting and discouraging.”
Conroy, who works at a school in neighboring Pembroke, Ontario, says the contrast between the two communities is obvious.
Pembroke made a proclamation for Pride Month and waved the flag at its town hall. Conroy said she and many Petawawa residents go there during Pride Month to participate in her various events, which the city supports and collaborates with.
“I feel like in politics or whatever we do, we should look at things with a lens of equity,” Conroy said. “Here we are on the wrong side of history.”
People celebrate Pride Month at the Pembroke Pride Street Festival in Pembroke, Ontario on June 4, 2022. Petawawa residents say they travel to Pembroke to celebrate Pride events due to lack of celebrations in your city. (Tim Graham)
List of denied causes by the City Council
In an email to Neville, the city sent a list of 33 “proclamation requests” that it said it had denied since 2007 because of the same policy.
Includes: day of action against anti-Asian racism; military family appreciation day; poutine holiday week; children’s mental health week; week of awareness about eating disorders; prostate cancer awareness month; Franco-Ontarian Day; and European Heritage Week.
“I do not know what the big argument is. [They’re] free to do almost anything you want, but we won’t proclaim any particular event, ”Sweet said.
“I’m not sure I understand why there’s a rejection or a rejection in this. I can’t understand what it’s like they feel they can’t do in our community. I really don’t know.”
Sweet said he asked Neville how the city can show support for the LGBTQ community without carrying a flag.
Neville plans to present a list of suggestions at the July 4 board meeting.
“I hope that these proposals I present are accepted … so that for Pride Month next year, 2023, we can have some kind of event or some kind of recognition in our community.”