'A seat for everyone': Leduc kicks off 2023 Pride week

Pride week is officially underway in Leduc.
To mark the start of the annual celebration, City of Leduc officials raised a Pride flag outside the Leduc Civic Centre.
It's a moment of celebration and recognition, said the city's manager of family and community support services.
"It's an opportunity for us to celebrate diversity and inclusion in our community and to acknowledge those who don't always get acknowledged," Amanda Ulrickson said.
A new Pride bus wrap was also unveiled at the event. Featuring the slogan "A seat for everyone," the wrap will adorn a Leduc commuter bus running between the city and Edmonton.
"It was an opportunity for us to really make a statement this year," Ulrickson said. "We want to be a city where everyone feels safe, and everyone feels included and everyone feels welcome."
Erica Hawes of the Leduc Youth Council said the bus is a symbol of the city's commitment to being an inclusive place.
"It's kind of like a walking advertisement," Hawes said. "And continuing that celebration outside of just the Civic Centre flag."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

McCarthy becomes the first U.S. speaker ever to be ousted from the job in a House vote
U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was voted out of the job Tuesday in an extraordinary showdown, a first in U.S. history that was forced by a contingent of hard-right conservatives and threw the House and its Republican leadership into chaos.
DEVELOPING CN experiencing network-wide system failure; Via, GO and other trains affected
Canadian National Railway Co. is experiencing a network-wide system failure that is affecting Via, GO and other trains in Ontario.
Parks Canada reveals additional details about deadly bear attack in Banff
The couple and dog mauled and killed by a grizzly bear in the backcountry of Banff National Park late last week did everything right, Parks Canada says.
Poilievre defends Truth and Reconciliation Day post, calls criticism 'appalling politicization'
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is defending the caption on photos he posted to social media on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation after Liberal cabinet minister Marc Miller accused him of misidentifying Inuit people as Algonquin.
A bus crash near Italian city of Venice kills at least 21 people, including Ukrainian tourists
A bus carrying foreign tourists including Ukrainians crashed near the Italian city of Venice when it fell from an elevated street Tuesday, killing at least 21 people and injuring 18 others, authorities said.
Liberal Greg Fergus makes history, elected first Black House Speaker
Liberal MP Greg Fergus is Canada's new House of Commons Speaker, following a secret ranked ballot election on Tuesday. It is a day for the political history books as Fergus, once a parliamentary page, becomes the first Black Canadian to hold the prestigious role.
After a four-week campaign, Manitobans to decide on Tories' bid for a third term
Manitobans are to make history today as they cast final ballots in an election that has followed four weeks of promises, debates and controversial advertisements.
MK-ULTRA mind-control experiments: Quebec high court says U.S. has immunity in Canada
The United States government cannot be sued in Canada for its alleged role in infamous brainwashing experiments at a Montreal psychiatric hospital, Quebec's Court of Appeal ruled this week.
New York judge issues limited gag order after Trump sends disparaging post about court clerk
Rebuking Donald Trump, a state court judge imposed a limited gag order Tuesday in the former president's civil business fraud trial and ordered him to delete a social media post that publicly maligned a key court staffer.