The Quesnel Pride Society presented to council about their activities in the last year including their successes with memberships, Rainbow Nights and counselling services. President Julia Dillabough and Vice President Mickaela Ezowski gave the presentation to council.
For memberships, the group has made the process of signing up to be a member easier with a quick Google form for the four different types of memberships. There are youth memberships, adult memberships, family memberships and business memberships. Business memberships also sponsor a free youth membership for the Pride Society. The group has 71 memberships, which they estimate to be close to 90 people taking into account the number of people part of family memberships.
Each month the society hosts Rainbow Night events. These are welcoming, safe spaces where the 2SLGBTQ+ community and allies can meet, listen to an educational organization from a partner organization and enjoy trivia and karaoke.The events started with around 25 people and have grown, having as many as 75 people, with new faces at each one.
"(We) see new faces at each one, each time. And we do have people from Williams Lake and Prince George come and attend which has been quite welcome and exciting to have them come and join," Dillabough said.
The educational presentations have come from several different partner groups of the Pride Society including places like Foundry and Trans Care BC.
"Trans Care BC was able to do a presentation to dispel some of the confusing statements that are out there and give some certainty as to what Trans Care BC supports and provides," said Dillabough. "We've done trivia and arts, we had pottery and ceramic painting at our last one and it was a hit."
The Quesnel Pride Society also offers subsidized counselling for 2SLGBQ+ people, the program is being adjusted and the biggest challenge for the society is finding additional qualified counsellors to participate in the program.
In 2024, the Pride Society had its biggest celebration to date. A record number of participants, vendors and a kids zone made the parade and Pride in the Park a huge success. The society also held a youth event with live music and an adult event featuring the Foxxy Follies and Strut Society as part of the pride celebrations.
They are hoping to ramp things up in 2025, which will mark the 10th anniversary celebration of Quesnel Pride with the theme ANEW You. Over 65 sponsors have been contacted with 10 already committing to supporting events.
"Thanks to our generous local businesses, we're currently sitting at around $3,000 in sponsorships and in-kind donations, with our goal being $10,000," Ezowski said.
They are once again going to hold the parade, going through Downtown Quesnel and concluding with the flag raising at LeBourdais Park.
"It makes a big difference for the community to see the flag being raised," Dillabough said. "We always start off by having an elder from Lhtako come and give the community a blessing which is always a major honour and to raise the flag in a good way on the Lhtako Dene Nation's land."
June 13 will be the youth dance event, June 14 the parade, starting at city hall and ending at LeBourdais for the flag raising and that evening will be the adult event.
Dillabough and Ezowski also brought up the damage to the rainbow crosswalk on Reid Street. Dillabough pointed out it isn't normal wear and tear on the crosswalk and presented council with a video of a pickup truck doing a burnout on the crosswalk.
"It is hate-fueled aggression. And this type of aggression is what people in the queer community deal with on a daily basis," Dillabough said. "This is constant. I've seen it when going to the bank, I see it going to Johnson Meyer. People have to wait for them to spin out and it's very unsafe. And it's not because of the (crosswalk) it's because people are hateful."
Dillabough explained the broken windows theory, an effect in criminology where signs of criminal behaviour like, broken windows, graffiti or vandalism of a crosswalk, creates an environment that leads to further criminal activity.
"The same thing goes for negativity. If people don't stand up for kindness, then we will just get more hatred," Dillabough said.
After the presentation, Dillabough and Ezowski had questions for council. Last year council committed to pursuing diversity and inclusion training for both councillors and city staff. They asked if that had been completed.
"Short answer is no," Councillor Laurey-Anne Roodenburg said. "I think the last time we had any kind of training that involved council or staff was around 2022."
Mayor Ron Paull asked if the Pride Society had any resources to share with city for consideration, Dillabough and Ezowski told them members of the Pride Society are willing to speak about their own lived experiences but they are not experts in creating policy for governments. They pointed to the many other communities with templates Quesnel could use for their training.
Roodenburg suggested council begin the process of introducing that training to be part of the training all new councillors get ahead of the next municipal election, which will be Oct. 17, 2026.
"As council, we need to make this right. And I'm not trying to do lip service, I really do think that we need to put into policy something around our council training and that gives us a year to figure out what that looks like," Roodenburg said. "I think what you say is very important, especially when you look at how your organization is growing."
Paull asked about switching the type of paint used for the rainbow crosswalk from latex to elastomeric paint.
"I think that would stand up better to those rednecks," Paull said.
The crosswalk was repainted last year with an updated design and was switched from thermoplastic paint to durable road paint due to costs and how poorly the thermoplastic paint held up to winter.
Dillabough ended the presentation by saying in the decade of pride, she hasn't seen all of the councillors at the parade and park event and hoped to see a majority of council attend the 10-year anniversary flag raising.
"There's lots of other things we do and sometimes they just get pulled out exactly at the same time every single year," Coun. Martin Runge said. "So just realize that sometimes it's not because we're - and I'll speak for myself in this case, but I'm sure it's for others too. There's other things that are going on, sometimes at the exact same time so we'll always look like we're not there."
Dillabough said while she appreciates members of council are busy and have jobs, she would encourage them to make attending the brief flag raising event a priority.
"I have a day job. I own a ranch. I run a society. I am on a health board. I have a family. I do all these things and then more so I understand what prioritizing means and when somebody wants to prioritize something, they will be there," she said. "I'm not asking for every single one of you to be there, I'm asking for a greater majority to stand up and come to the 10th anniversary for Quesnel Pride."
Paull said he values the work of the Pride Society, but said with the event being held on his birthday, he'll be spending the weekend camping with his family.
"One more thing for those of you who are unable to attend, we are accepting donation so just showing your support is what we're looking for," Ezowski said. The council chambers erupted in laughter.
"Good shot! Thank you," Paull said through laughter.
