St. Albert celebrated Pride month on May 25 with the repainting of the crosswalk. Now, the flag has officially been raised outside St. Albert Place following a ceremony the morning of June 5, with St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron making the proclamation and Clarice Hursin and Dejan Hursin of PFLAG St. Albert in attendance.
Heron said this was the ninth time the city has raised the flag outside St. Albert Place. The new flag features a yellow section with a purple circle within it at the front of the progress flag, meant to be inclusive to intersex people.
Clarice Hursin described the flag raising as an "emotional experience."
"Because of the political climate around the queer community at this time, in Alberta and in general," Hursin said. "When there's other communities that are banning Pride crosswalks, saying things like 'flags can't be owned.' Things like this where it's almost closeting the queer community all over again."
While other communities such as Westlock and Barrhead voted to ban Pride crosswalks last year, as well as the province's recent announcement to introduce new standards for school library books, St. Albert continually has reinforced making its support of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community visible.
"Whether people like it or not, whether they're scared of it, there are residents of our community that are part of the LGBTQ community, and they are often marginalized and often are afraid," Heron said in an interview. "And I think those symbols — whether it's a flag, a crosswalk, or wearing a Pride pin — when people see the symbolic acceptance, it puts them at ease and makes them feel this is a safe place. It really quite often is about feeling safe."
"We're very happy to see St. Albert is still happy to fly those queer symbols," Dejan said.
PFLAG Canada is a national charitable organization that was founded to help parents of 2SLGBTQIA+ children support their loved ones. Clarice and Dejan started the St. Albert for PFLAG to take over from the Outloud group, which ceased operations because of a lack of funding and legal expenses in 2024.
Clarice recently left her position at a pharmacy to focus on taking a larger role within PFLAG St. Albert.
"We found that there was a need in the community that still needed to be filled, and so we wanted to give PFLAG the opportunity grow and to serve more people than what we were previously," Dejan said.
"PFLAG's an amazing resource," Heron said. "I've had some initial conversations with the two that are running it now and their stories are the same as every other parent. It's a community and it's a shoulder to lean on."
