Brighton councillor Emily Rowley is looking to see an orange crosswalk painted in her community in solidarity with Indigenous communities.
In light of the discoveries of hundreds of bodies of Indigenous children at various sites of former residential schools throughout the country, many municipalities have looked at different ways of showing solidarity.
Rowley said she thought of the idea while Brighton council was discussing painting a rainbow crosswalk in support of Pride Month and the LGBTQ community.
“I guess it just kind of came to mind maybe with all of the news and all of the sadness regarding the Indigenous children and the residential schools, I thought maybe in some small part, this year we could maybe paint an orange [crosswalk] as well to maybe have people pause and reflect on the sad issues that are surrounding those kids.”
Rowley said the idea has been received positively by members of council that she has spoken to and at the July 19 meeting there will be a notice of motion and that the item will be officially raised at a council meeting in August.
She also said that she has seen a small amount of pushback on social media.
If council decides to proceed with an orange crosswalk the public works department will be consulted as to how much it would cost.
