Quesnel City Council unanimously approved the installation on Tuesday night at the request of the Pride Society.
It will cross St Laurent Avenue from Spirit Square to the Royal Bank.
Councillor Mitch Vik is the Chair of the Executive Committee…
“We’re very pleased that we put some work in to try and assist the Pride Society in realizing a dream or an ambition to have a pride feature in the community.  It got narrowed down to a couple of features. One that was on the table for them was a crosswalk feature, and then another feature that had been discussed and is actually exciting is a mural.”
Vik noted that the Pride Society didn’t have the funding right now for a mural, although it hasn’t given up on that idea.
Councillor Scott Elliott was happy to hear that.
“I would be very interested in a possible pride mural, and a possible First Nations mural.  Some of the ones in Chemainus had some of the Chiefs on there from long ago, it was very interesting, and the other thing with that is that it is visible 12 months of the year.  The crosswalk, you won’t be able to see it 6 months of the year.”
Mayor Bob Simpson noted that the idea of a mural is not just for pride inclusion, but general inclusion within the city.
Council’s approval was subject to three conditions:
1. That the Royal Bank fully funds the initial installation of the crosswalk (around $3,000)
2. That the City of Quesnel agrees to cover the ongoing repairs and refurbishment of this feature.
3. That design has to be paintable by our commercial line painting crew
The goal is to have the rainbow crosswalk in place before the end of May as Pride Month is in June.
The Executive Committee also directed staff to consider artistic features for Spirit Square to commerorate First Nations inclusiveness.