Thirteen-year-old Makayla Augustine can’t make sense of why the two Pride crosswalks in front of her school were vandalized.
“I don’t think that people should have done that, and I don’t understand why people would do that in the first place because we’re all just people, right?” she said.
The crosswalks in front of École Abbey-Landry in the village of Memramcook were covered in burnouts roughly a month ago.
Augustine was part of a group of students repainting the crosswalks on Friday morning along with village officials.
Memramcook Mayor Maxime Bourgeois said the ATV riders blocked traffic for a half hour while doing the burnouts.
“Obviously the RCMP was called, but there were delays to come and intervene, so we weren’t able to identify the people committing that crime,” he said.
He said there were plans to repaint the crosswalks earlier, but rain and a shortage of the coloured paint prevented that from happening.
He said the village was looking to take matters into their own hands to hold the culprits responsible.
“We’re looking into possibly going on the civil side and suing those individuals if we could identify them, so that’s something that we could consider in the future because it is a problem for the community,” he said.
Memramcook and its trail system brings in ATV riders from all over the Maritimes.
He said he was working with Memramcook’s ATV club to encourage more respectful ridership, as he said the Pride crosswalk vandalism had not been an isolated incident.
“It’s also the reckless driving on the street sometimes with those ATV riders,” he said.
Club vice-president Sébastien Cyr said he had seen damage caused by ATV riders first-hand, saying it was heartbreaking.
“It happens within the club as well, damage within the shelters and trails — it’s really disheartening,” he said.
“When we see that type of vandalism, it’s really hard for us to accept. Especially with so many volunteers putting in hours for this sport and this community.”
Cyr said his organization was working with village council to try to find those responsible for the vandalism on the Pride crosswalks.
Bourgeois said Memramcook was in the process of establishing bylaws that would allow ATV riders to use the road.
“That will probably go forward regardless, but we’re definitely not going to expand at the moment if we can’t resolve issues like we saw with the Pride crosswalks,” he said.
Cyr said while he understood Bourgeois’ point, “it’s the actions of a few that are impacting the majority.”
Cyr said his organization was communicating with its members and parents of ATV riders to encourage them to drive responsibly.
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