ACW Council votes to fly Pride flag again despite resistance 

BY SCOTT STEPHENSON

At the Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Council (ACW) meeting last week, Councillor Jennifer Miltenberg voiced support for Huron County Pride’s annual request that ACW fly the Pride flag in June as a symbol of solidarity. 

 

Councillor Evan Hickey made the choice to push back against the request, voicing his personal view thusly: “In the past year since this flag has been flown, we have not celebrated any other events that people choose to take part in. In that time, no religious group, no charitable organization, or any kind of support group has had their flag or any other symbol of theirs on display on ACW property. I’ve stated before, and I will repeat now, that the township property should be kept neutral of all personal choices and beliefs. I never got elected to change people’s views or beliefs. Everyone is welcome to support what they want, believe what they want, and be friends with who they want. Since I took this stance a year ago, I’ve not had one person tell me I did wrong in doing so, in ACW or Huron County. Not one. Every single person has agreed with my views. That includes the support of the Amish community - I’ve spoken to a lot of members of the Amish community. They agree everyone is free to do what they want, but not on township-owned property. I cannot support that.”

 

Miltenberg responded to Hickey with a different perspective. “Well, since I took a fairly public stand, I’ve had over 30 people call me to thank me, and probably over 20 who I had no idea who they were. So they weren’t people that I was speaking to that were like me - they were just people... I’d like to address the comment that we haven’t flown any others. We haven’t had any other requests, either. And I’m going to give you a scenario here. Let’s say that avian flu shuts down the border, or BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) shuts down the border, or America became great, and the corn couldn’t flow over the border, and our farmers were struggling, and we knew they were struggling, and they were part of our community, and they asked ‘could you fly something to support agriculture? It might not change anything, but at least we would know we were heard and understood.’ If you would fly that flag, but not this flag, I would suggest that your problem is not with the flag, it’s with what it represents.”
Miltenberg also offered context for why she believes the Pride flag is socially and culturally important. “When we fly the Huron Pride flag, there is a long history throughout centuries, and I’m going to really try to not get up on my soapbox, of people discriminating against people that are not like them. Whether it’s ‘Irish need not apply,’ or they’re Black, or it’s after 9/11 or they’re people of colour, or whatever they are - their race or their religion isn’t the same. It’s a difference, and it makes people uncomfortable.”

 

She went on to point out that there are additional isolating factors to consider when addressing the issues that have long been particular to the LGBTQ2S+ community. “When we talk about the Gay Pride Movement, these are people who often are ostracized by their families of origin, and by their communities, and they don’t have a safe space. They have to form their own communities.”

 

Miltenberg then laid bare the crux of the ongoing flag debate as she perceives it. “Those communities, because of who they innately are, they are victims and targets. And they are Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh residents. And if we need to simply support them by hanging a flag, and saying ‘we see you, you are safe here,’ then that is worth it. If you would recognize a request from a farmer who is suffering because of something beyond his control, and say ‘yeah, if it will help you feel better, we’ll hang that flag,’ then your problem isn’t the flag.”

 

Deputy-Mayor Bill Vanstone weighed in, asking “What is our protocol for putting the flags up? As you know, I’ve always said that I don’t care what happens, as long as we treat everybody the same. If we’ve got an open door policy, if the farmers come in, or some other organization comes in and asks to fly the flag, would we do that? And if we would, then I would support this.”
Chief Administrative Officer Mark Becker informed council that ACW does not currently have a set policy in place. “As I understand, we have a flag-lowering policy, we don’t have a flag-raising policy.”

 

The majority of council then voted to support the request that ACW fly the Pride flag in June, with only Hickey and Councillor Curtis Blake voting against the motion.

 

Miltenberg went on to request that a flag-raising policy be created, saying “I don’t want to have this conversation every year.” Mayor Glen McNeil concurred, and a staff report on the subject will come back to a future meeting.