York Lake Regional Park board reviewing incident following allegations of racism

A Melville resident who claims she was the target of racism and verbal harassment is calling for the removal of a regional park board member.

Maria Cole-Gayle was helping set up the Jamaican Independence Day celebrations near York Lake Regional Park on Aug. 7. The group had rented out the Yorkton Wildlife Federation as a venue.

Cole-Gayle claims she was verbally harassed at the park entrance while she was driving back and forth to drop off supplies at the event site.

“I have never felt so disrespected in my life,” Cole-Gayle said.

“Had I been white it wouldn’t have happened. Had I been a man it wouldn’t have happened.”

On one of her final trips past the park gate, she says two men standing in the road approached her and her sister-in-law. The men claimed to be from the York Lake Park Board, Cole-Gayle said.

She alleges the men swore at her and told them both to get out of the park. It wasn’t until Cole-Gayle started recording the incident with her phone that the men asked to see her park pass, she claimed.

“A daily pass is just $8. We wouldn’t want to create such a conflict for an $8 pass,” she said.

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As Cole-Gayle drove past the park entrance one last time, she alleges one of the men kicked gravel at her through her car window.

“I have faced a lot of racism in different aspects, but not to this level where you could have somebody kicking gravel inside your vehicle,” she said.

CTV News spoke with Cole-Gayle’s sister-in-law, who corroborated her version of events.

The Saskatchewan Regional Parks Association (SRPA) confirmed it received a complaint last week regarding discrimination and racism allegations at York Lake Regional Park.

The SRPA said they received several complaints, but this is the first racism allegation to come from York Lake. The association said it takes all complaints very seriously.

According to the SRPA, protocol is to notify the local park authority board and have them look into the matter directly.

The Yorkton Wildlife Federation (YWF) serves as a York Lake Regional Park board member. In a statement, the group confirmed another board member is involved in the allegations.

“As one member of the park board we can not speak on behalf of the park board but we will encourage the park board as a whole to look into the events that took place and to take corrective action,” YWF said.

“The Yorkton Wildlife Federation does not approve of the actions of the York Lake Regional Park board member.”

Cole-Gayle wants the board member removed.

“I want to make sure that this incident never happens again,” she said.

The chairperson of the York Lake Regional Park board said they are investigating the incident, but would not comment further.