$1.75
($1.67+GST) ($1.26 when you subscribe)
The Rocky Mountain Goat News PM42164515
Thursday November 17th, 2016 Join us for
Uncle Tasha & The Nephew Fri. Nov 18
Serving Valemount, McBride & the Robson Valley since 2010. Locally owned & operated.
Derailment spills coal
Volume 7 Issue 46
See story A03
Show @ 7:30
Valemount
Acoustic, experimental electronic, ukulele
Remembering the girls Upgrades on hold A06
Oldest veteran reflects A07
Speed limit demons?
A06
Listings on A02! P15!
Prince George
Wardens are coming A16
Photo: Evan Matthews Sherry Tinsley stands with “her girls,” symbolized by these red dresses hanging on fence posts. Each dress represents a missing or murdered Indigenous woman. More on A10.
Students see the rainbow by EVAN MATTHEWS Students at Valemount Secondary School are aiming to take Valemount’s rainbow crosswalk issue into their own hands. Zach Schneider, a Grade 11 student, along with Vivian Kenkel, Grade 10, are taking the steps to bring a rainbow walkway — or some other inclusive symbol — onto private property, so neither Council, nor the public can interfere. “The town, and the school, could progress a little bit,” says Schneider. “This is a way to get that going.” One of the leading options for Valemount Secondary, according to Schneider, is to paint the walkway of the school’s main entrance.
As part of the LGBTQ2 community himself, Schneider says he already feels safe in Valemount and at school, but that doesn’t mean everyone does. “I obviously know others in the LGBTQ2 community as well,” says Schneider. “This is a way to help ease the fears other people might have about being themselves, or coming out or whatever it is they’re feeling. “It’s kind of a personal project in that way,” he says. Though Schneider and Kenkel have already gained support from their peers, a spokesperson for School District 57 says the idea needs even more substantial, organized support from other students before moving onto installation.
Even if Schneider gets more students on board, a walkway won’t happen this year, he says, mostly because you can’t paint a sidewalk in the winter, though he notes if another symbol was chosen it could be installed earlier. Because the school is on private property, permission from council isn’t required. Based on policy changes at SD57, according to the spokesperson, demonstrating inclusion of all is a priority. Keeping that in mind, the spokesperson says the district would encourage and welcome an organized student initiative of any kind that encourages inclusion of everyone. Valemount’s Village Council rejected Cont’d on A05 the idea for a Rainbow