Coldstream agrees to fly Pride flag

Jul 26, 2022 | 2:00 PM

The District of Coldstream will fly a Pride flag during the Vernon Pride 2022 event next month.

Erik Olesen from the organizing group requested the district raise the flag from Monday, Aug. 8 at 2:00 p.m. until Sunday, Aug. 14.

Mayor Jim Garlick said council passed that motion unanimously, but there was some opposition to waiving council’s normal policy to not deal with delegation requests until the next council meeting.

“We usually wait two weeks before we consider those, so there was a vote on that, and there was some concern from some members, but that passed. It had to pass by two-thirds,” Garlick told Vernon Matters.

The next regular meeting of council is on Aug. 8 at 6 p.m., meaning it would not have been possible to meet the terms of Olesen’s request.

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“In reality, it wasn’t possible to meet the ask with the time frame that we had, so we had to deal with it last night, and once people sort of settled in and understood that, then there was support for it.”

Garlick said all of council supported the vote to raise the flag.

“I see that as a good thing. To put a flag up in support of things is not a hard thing to do. And I think it just shows the community that we are supportive of the event,” said Garlick.

Thank you @ColdstreamDist for agreeing to fly the Pride Flag from Aug. 8 to 13 as part of the North Okanagan's first official Pride Week.#inclusive #loveislove #coldstreambc @coldstreamel @KidstonElementa @kalstaff @LavingtonElemen @LavNews @Coldstreamfire

— richard rolke (@RRolke) July 26, 2022

(Richard Rolke/Twitter)

The mayor would like to see the Pride group expand its name.

“The only thing I wish is that it wasn’t just called Vernon Pride. It could be called North Okanagan Pride.”

The district has three flagpoles which normally fly the flags of Canada, British Columbia and Coldstream.

The district flag has been temporarily removed to fly the Ukrainian flag, but that country’s flag will be replaced with the Pride flag for the week-long event.

by Pete McIntyre

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