Toronto police withdraw from city’s Pride parade in wake of community concerns

By The Canadian Press, News Staff

Toronto police say they will withdraw their application to march in the city’s Pride parade after event organizers said the presence of uniformed officers would make members of the LGBTQ community feel unsafe.

Chief Mark Saunders says in a statement (full statement below) that he hopes the move “will be received as a concrete example” of the fact that he is listening closely to the community’s concerns.

The announcement comes a day after Pride Toronto and other LGBTQ community groups posted an open letter online asking police to withdraw from the parade.

Pride Toronto executive director Olivia Nuamah says the organization wants police to better communicate with the community rather than focus on participating in the summer parade.

Nuamah notes that the force’s handling of several high-profile deaths connected to the city’s gay village, including the disappearances of six men allegedly murdered by an accused serial killer, have shaken the community’s relations with police.

In recent months, relations between the police and the city’s LGBTQ community have become strained over the handling of the case involving McArthur.

The 66-year-old landscaper has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of six men, some of whom have been connected to Toronto’s gay village.

In the statement, Pride Toronto says the investigations into the men’s disappearances were “insufficient” and community fears that a serial killer was targeting men in the gay village area were “dismissed” by police, adding that the “disappearances and deaths of Alloura Wells and Tess Ritchie also speak to the marginalization of our communities and the silencing of our concerns.”

The statement says the community’s trust in Toronto police “cannot be mended through a parade.”

Last year, members voted at a Pride Toronto’s annual general meeting to adopt Black Lives Matter demands, including the banning of police floats from Pride marches and parades.

Chief Mark Saunders later voluntarily bowed out.

“We understand the LGBTQ communities are divided,” he said in a statement. “To enable those differences to be addressed, I have decided the Toronto Police Service will not participate, this year, in the Pride parade.”

Toronto police have not responded to Pride Toronto’s request.

Chief Saunders’ full statement:

On multiple recent occasions, I have expressed my sincere commitment to the cause of strengthening and renewing the relationship between the Toronto Police Service and our city’s LGBTQ2S community. As we have heard from the community itself, we have been through challenging times and it is a personal priority of mine as Chief to build an even more constructive, trusting relationship for the future.

With this very goal in mind, I had hoped to see our civilians and uniformed officers invited back to march in the 2018 Pride Parade. My hope was that it would demonstrate a shared commitment to progress and healing. In particular, I think of the many members of the Toronto Police Service who identify as LGBTQ2S and who wish to meaningfully participate in unity and inclusion.

That being said, I am conscious of the need to avoid any setback that might undermine the principle objective of coming together and restoring confidence. In light of the concerns expressed in yesterday’s letter to me, I will be withdrawing the application we have made to the organizing committee of the Pride Parade. My hope is that this move will be received as a concrete example of the fact that I am listening closely to the community’s concerns and I am committed thoroughly to building a better, stronger relationship between us. Much more work is needed, of course. But hopefully this moment moves us forward in an important way.

I strongly believe that we should be working toward a time when this issue is no longer a point of controversy and where the participation of our members in the Pride Parade is accepted and welcomed. The Toronto Police Service will work hard over the course of the next year toward that end and, ideally, the 2019 Pride Parade will offer an opportunity to demonstrate that progression.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today