Edmonton Pride Parade: Cancelled
Coming as a surprise to all of us, Edmonton’s Pride Parade recently made the news in a shocking story of it’s cancellation. An array of reasons were displayed as to why, such as current political climate, and Edmonton’s social environment. However, the official reason is within the conflicts and controversy of opinion in LGBTQ+ groups of Edmonton. That of the Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS), Shades of Colour (SoC), and RaricaNow.
On the night of an EPFS meeting, members of the latter groups congregated by the doors, hoping to get in, later, a vast disagreement occurred. The eventually violent argument was about a list of demands revolving around this years parade. That involved the disinclusion of police officers and RCMP (a topic protested for at last year’s event). This ban was put into effect and will be present in future festivals. Other demands, as said by EPFS, included a vigil held to commemorate the lives of LGBTQ+ activists who’ve lost their lives due to systematic oppression; the event not including floats; being led by trans people, LGBTQ+ people of colour and their allies as an open protest; $20, 000 of funding be given to SoC and RaricaNow (not a gross amount compared to pride’s common funding, it was also open to negotiation); a statement about the harm done by EPFS to SoC and RaricaNow which would be released by the EPSF; SoC and RaricaNow be on the front cover of the pride program; EPFS working with RaricaNow to support LGBTQ+ refugees, writing letters of support when needed.
Originally, these demands were to be debated and voted on by representatives at a meeting in EPFS’s headquarters, when the group showed up though, they were told they weren’t allowed to enter due to seating capacity. This is when it began getting violent.
After this meeting, the parade was said to be pursued as first planned. It wasn’t until the SoC released a statement on their Facebook claiming that they were upset to hear the news of the cancellation, titling the decision as “a namely disavowal of deep systematic problems in the framework of EPFS”.
Overall, this action is unanimously agreed upon as a sad one. With youth organizing protests and strikes, and people everywhere voicing their opinions, it is commonly said that with Jason Kenney in office we must stop at nothing to continue this event. A woman advocating for the LGBTQ+ community, Chevi Rabbit, said “This year’s Pride would have sent a big message out there because I think there’s so much going on in the political climate.” Personally, I agree with this; for more of my opinion look out for an opinion piece coming soon with an exclusive interview.
