'There's work to be done yet': Flag-raising in Chatham-Kent launches CK Pride Week

Close to 100 people turned out to the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre on Monday for a flag-raising ceremony to mark the beginning of Pride Week 2022.

Pride flags were also raised in Wallaceburg, Tilbury, Ridgetown, Blenheim and Dresden.

“Every year it gets bigger and every year it gets better,” said Marianne Willson, President of The Chatham-Kent Gay Pride Association.

The pride flag has been hoisted in Chatham for the last twenty years according to Willson who said the smaller communities joined in five years ago.

“CK Pride has been working really hard in the last 10 years to really push the envelope for community diversity and inclusion,” Willson explained. “Some of the other municipal centers that don't have this flag, the only reason they don't is they don't have a secondary pole to raise it on.”

A flag-raising ceremony was held at the Chatham-Kent Civic Centre to mark the beginning of Pride Week in Chatham-Kent, Ont. on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)Willson said having in-person events is a big deal for the local pride community noting the COVID-19 pandemic made things difficult.

“Getting back to the in-person events is huge, because isolation is such a challenge for people who already feel isolated, to then have a physical isolation imposed on them through the pandemic was really, really difficult and hard,” Wilson said.

Included among this week’s events are a display at the Chatham-Kent library, a bonfire, trivia night, and pub night. The week concludes with a parade in downtown Chatham, a festival in Tecumseh Park and a church service at St. Andrews United Church on Sunday.

Meantime, residents are fundraising to cover the $8,000 cost for a new rainbow crosswalk in Dresden.

“In small rural Chatham-Kent, I think that there is work yet to be done. I'm not going lie. I think there's work yet to be done. But I think it's important that we're all part of that work,” Wilson said.

“It takes time. It takes growth, it takes learning it takes public events like this, to let people see it's okay.”