A second Alberta town has voted to pass a bylaw to ensure that all public buildings, crosswalks, and flags remain “neutral” on social or political issues.
The Town of Barrhead published the results of its plebiscite vote on Monday. A total of 1,145 votes were cast, 653 (57%) for and 492 (43%) against.
The Neutral Space Bylaw mandates that crosswalks are only painted in standard white striped patterns between two parallel lines. The bylaw also states that only national flags, the provincial flag of Alberta, or the Town of Barrhead flags are flown on public property.
“There will be no decorations on town crosswalks or displaying of flags supporting political, social, or religious movements or commercial entities,” reads the bylaw. “No grandfathering of any existing crosswalks or flags that contravene the new bylaw will be authorized.”
The vote follows a similar vote occurring in a different Alberta town, Westlock, in Feb. 2024.
According to Alberta’s Municipal Government Act, a petition must be signed by at least 10% of a municipality’s population to go before the city council.
The petition for the bylaw featured signatures from around 16% of the population.
The city said that 33% of eligible voters came to cast their ballots. The city council could either pass the bylaw through three readings or allow the community to decide through a plebiscite.
“To ensure a broader representation of community voices, Council opted for the plebiscite,” said the city.
The petition was sponsored by Barrhead Neutrality, a group of residents who said it supports the freedoms of beliefs, speech, and expression of all people.
“We do not want our government to be wielded as a tool on behalf of some against others,” reads the team’s website.
The Westlock vote was a closer race, with 663 people voting yes and 639 people voting no.
Ard Doornbos, a member of Barrhead Neutrality, told True North that it was encouraging that the Barrhead vote had a larger margin of agreement than Westlock.
He said going door to door was not difficult, but time-consuming and required many volunteers.
“But the online world is a beast. One of the hardest things for us, as a team, was that we felt we were constantly correcting misinformation from a misunderstanding of the proposed bylaw and a misunderstanding of our concerns and position. Lots of responding and clarifying and that was simply mentally draining,” said Doornbos.
He added that the town was generally supportive, and over 20 businesses put up posters supporting the group.
Doornbos said he looks forward to taking a break after six months of hard work.
“I want to reiterate that this was not a love vs hate vote for us. We did not set out to incite hate into the community but rather to keep our community open and welcome to everyone of all stripes,” said Doornbos. “We saw the past two years the division caused by painted crosswalks and didn’t feel we had any recourse to appeal them.”
Stephanie Bakker, a spokesperson for the Westlock Neutrality Team that led that town’s petition, told True North that her team had been in contact with Barrhead’s throughout the entire process.
“We’ve been in contact with them the whole time, giving them advice where we can, but it’s all their energy and hard work that made it happen,” she said.
While Bakker said that she feels Westlock influenced what happened in Barrhead, she noted that their city council took a more neutral stance compared to when Westlock’s mayor and council publicly opposed the bylaw, which she added may have worked against them.
Bakker added that all the negative hypotheticals people proposed would happen in Westlock following their bylaw enactment, like being unable to attract doctors to the town, did not occur.
“It’s easy to be angry online, but when you’re face to face with your neighbour in the grocery store, people behave a lot differently,” she said.
Bakker noted a shift in the tides of Alberta, where people are beginning to realize they’re not alone and just want to get along. She thinks the bylaw has actually encouraged kindness instead of hate.
She said that other towns have reached out and encouraged any others seeking guidance to follow suit.
Following the recent results, the Town of Barrhead will pass the second and third readings of the bylaw at upcoming city council meetings to formally enact the legislation.
All existing decorative crosswalks and flags will be removed from public property.
Flags and images will not be removed from personal or business properties.
