Pride director: Black Lives Matter Toronto can't dictate floats

Black Lives Matter activists organize a sit-in at Younge st. and College st. during the Trans Pride March, in Toronto on Friday July 1 , 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Eduardo Lima

Pride Toronto executive director Mathieu Chantelois says no final decisions have been made after he signed an agreement mid-parade Sunday with Black Lives Matter Toronto protesters that includes several demands, including banning police floats in the future.

“Black Lives Matter is not going to tell us that there is no more floats anymore in the parade,” Chantelois said in an interview Monday on local news station CP24.

“Pride is bigger than Black Lives Matter,” he added. “That is the kind of decision that needs to be made by the community.”

However, in an interview on CTV News Channel, Chantelois appeared open to the idea of taking police floats out of the parade.

“Personally, I think police are already all over the parade because there are a lot of officers everywhere in uniform,” he said. “So having them walking instead of being on a float will not be the end of the world for me.”

Several members of Black Lives Matter Toronto sat down in the middle of Yonge Street Sunday, bringing the parade to a halt. It resumed 30 minutes later when Chantleois signed their list of demands.

The demands include no police floats in future parades or police booths at the festival, a doubling of funding for the 18-year-old black-focused party Blockorama, a permanent Black queer youth stage, a South Asian-focused stage, and more American Sign Language interpretation provided by Black deaf and hearing interpreters.

On Monday, Pride Toronto released a statement saying it’s “committed to creating a safe and inclusive festival for everyone and hearing from our whole community and stakeholders, including the most marginalized voices, on how to do so.”

The organization also clarified that “law enforcement are critical to ensuring a safe festival and parade. Toronto Police will continue to lead security planning for future parades and we thank them for their efforts. We have had, and will continue to have, discussions with the police about the nature of their involvement as parade participants.”

Pride Toronto is holding a public townhall in August, and has set up an email address for people to “share their thoughts.”

BLM-TO protest ‘about inclusion’

Protest organizer Janaya Khan, who identifies as a member of both the black and LGBTQ communities, told CP24 the group’s demands are not about excluding people, but about making the parade more inclusive.

“This isn’t about excluding police; this is actually about making our movement more inclusive,” Khan said.

“I think one of the major tensions of this particular day is ‘who feels safer with the presence of police?’ More than that, should they be in their uniforms and participating in the parade in the first place?”

Khan said that although she thinks police floats should definitely not be allowed, “a police presence is something that could be negotiated.”

“There are LGBTQ police officers on the force and we have no right to say whether or not they should participate,” she added.

Khan said that seeing police officers in uniform causes “deep and grave concern because of the distrust that exists in the community.”

In a recent Facebook post, she wrote that “police are still homophobic and transphobic, racist and unaccountable in their practice.”

She said that she and fellow BLM-TO faced racism at a recent Pride mural unveiling.

“Remember, white Pride is still White Pride,” she wrote. “Some of y'all will be waving that gay flag as quickly as the confederate.”

'Shame on Pride organizers': Police union

Toronto Police Association President Mike McCormack was furious when Chantelois signed their list of “ridiculous” and “offensive` demands.

“Shame on Pride organizers,” he tweeted Sunday night after learning that Pride organizers had agreed to the demand.

“Unfortunately, it’s a great event and it’s been hijacked by Black Lives Matter,” McCormack told CP24 in a phone interview.

“This is not what this event is about. This event is about inclusiveness. It’s about community, and now they’ve attempted to drive a wedge in that community.”

Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said that he will not comment until after he speaks with Pride Toronto, to “let them know exactly what my feelings are, what my concerns or issues are, if there are any.”

There was an increased police presence at the parade this year, given safety concerns following the mass shooting in Orlando. Many police officers wore uniforms with the Pride rainbow on them and posed for pictures.

Gay officer: don’t exclude us

Chuck Krangle, an openly gay Toronto Police constable who marched in the parade Sunday, wrote an open letter Monday after the protest. He wrote that seeing the police floats in the parade made it clear to him that his “employer fully supports this part of me.”

“Police officers are significantly represented in the LGBTQ community and it would be unacceptable to alienate and discriminate against them and those who support them,” he wrote. “They too struggled to gain a place and workplace free from discrimination and bias.”

Krangle wrote that he fears being excluded from the next Pride. “Exclusion does not promote inclusion,” he added.

Activist: Police assaulted protesters

Desmond Cole, a journalist and BLM-TO activist, said protesters are still angry about having been “assaulted by police” in April.

Police moved in on the protest outside police headquarters after the protesters started a fire.

“The first night they were demonstrating there, police came out wearing hazmat suits,” he said. “They came out ready to start an altercation and they in fact did push, throw to the ground and get very aggressive with a whole bunch of protesters who were there.”

He said that people must consider whether it’s more important for police to feel “included” at pride than those who the BLM-TO protesters, who he said are “mostly queer and Trans.”

“Pride itself was founded because of police brutality against the queer community,” he added.

Back to ‘political roots’: reporter

Arshy Mann, a reporter with LGBTQ-focused publication Daily Xtra, says Black Lives Matter Toronto made use of their platform as an honorary guest of the parade to get their message through.

“They would say they were bringing Pride back to its political roots,” Mann told CTV News Channel.

“They were using a moment of maximum visibility and maximum leverage to push for greater openness and access for black, indigenous, non-white LGBT people, for them to have a greater place at the table during Pride.”

BLM-TO co-founder Rodney Diverlus says, while the issues his group raised at the parade may be new to some, these are changes they’ve been requesting for years.

“The demands have been discussed ad nauseum by members of marginalized communities. What you don’t see is the years of conversation between organizing bodies and Pride Toronto,” Diverlus told CTV News Channel Monday.

“What you did see is an action that has escalated out of literally dozens of conversations about safety, and funding, and space and resources.”

Past controversy

Black Lives Matter Toronto claims to be an anti-racist group but faced accusations of racism when co-founder Yusra Khogali Tweeted in February, “Plz Allah give me strength to not cuss/kill these men and white folks out here today. Plz plz plz.”

Sandy Hudson, a former University of Toronto student leader and BLM-TO organizer, said at the time that discussing Khogali`s hateful Tweet was "tabloid journalism."

Hudson told CTV News Channel the media should instead focus on “what our decision makers are going to be doing to ensure that black folks are not discriminated against, unfairly targeted, dehumanized, (and) killed by police services in our city and in our country.”