New West Pride is urging the city to promote accessibility throughout New Westminster.
Hayley Sinclair, a member of the New West Pride Society board of directors, said the local group carefully considered the type of festival it wanted to be and concluded it wanted to be more inclusive and accessible to the community. That included prioritizing people who have mobility issues, are deaf or hard of hearing, are blind or have limited vision, are gender non-conforming or lack financial resources.
New West Pride also created a 52-point audit to provide accurate information about the accessibility of this year’s New West Pride Festival, which featured 28 events in 18 venues over seven days. Some of the accessibility features incorporated into the 2016 New West Pride Columbia Street Party included American Sign Language on both stages, two accessible bathrooms, wheelchair and priority seating by the main stage, a shade tent, gender-neutral bathroom signage for private venues and a detailed map identifying accessibility features.
“The total cost of this was $1,800 or 5.2 per cent of our budget,” Sinclair said.
New West Pride is making the accessibility audit checklists available to the city and businesses and groups planning events at local venues year-round. As a result of its efforts to promote accessibility, the group has two recommendations for city council:
* That gender-neutral bathrooms be included in all new civic builds and major renovations, and that the venues (both private and public) include and promote their presence on all facilities lists; and
* That all public events include accessibility information in their promotions and plan for inclusion.
“Your group has really demonstrated that accessibility is a topic that really touches on many different areas,” said Mayor Jonathan Cote. “I know you’ve presented to our civic committees, and staff are working on bringing something back to city council to address some of these areas.”
Dean Gibson, the city’s director of parks and recreation, said staff is doing some preliminary work on the issue of gender-neutral washrooms and will bring forward recommendations for council’s consideration.
Coun. Patrick Johnstone said New West Pride has created a model that every festival could benefit from in the years ahead.
“I think you have created a legacy in those audits and a legacy in the work you have done that is going to make it easier for other organizations to pick up what you do and follow your lead,” he said. “Thank you for your work.”
Coun. Bill Harper said this is the first time he’s seen an organization bring forward a proposal that is going to affect policy citywide.
“Over the years, New Westminster Pride has really been a leader in New Westminster in trying to encourage an inclusive community and also an accessible community,” said Cote. “I think this particular initiative really demonstrates that New West Pride is really going beyond New Westminster pride in terms of where they are trying to influence some community policy that affects a whole range of people.”
