‘Fought to get to this place’: Pride Parade draws thousands to downtown Saskatoon

(Hayatullah Amanat/CTV News)

The streets of downtown Saskatoon were full of colour on Sunday afternoon, thanks to the return of the annual Pride Parade.

“It’s definitely time. It’s always time for change. And this is positive. And we see more and more people coming out from different areas, different walks of life, supporting our community, supporting the people who live here and allowing them to be their wonderful, shiny, beautiful selves,” said Jackie Latendresse, founder of the Saskatoon International Burlesque Festival.

Thousands of people showed up to celebrate their identities and allyship within the community. The event welcomes everyone and anyone. It’s an opportunity to showcase the safe spaces in the city and remind everyone that they are not alone.

“Even if you’re not part of the queer community, it’s just the genuine kindness, acceptance, and safe space that the Pride Parade provides every single year,” said Charles, a parade attendee and 10th-grade student at Aden Bowman Collegiate.

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Charles said the event is an annual reminder that there is a welcoming community out there.

“It’s important simply because we couldn’t do it before. And every time someone takes that step forward to be queer... it makes the world just better,” Charles said.

Haylee Martens and Jade Wong walked in the parade with their high school band. The flautists said the turnout of the event has a major impact on many.

“There is a very big sense of community here. It’s like, whether you’re an ally or part of the community, you can just come and enjoy the time,” Martens said.

“[People can leave] feeling like a part of the community more and being involved more, no matter what they identify as,” Wong said.

Among the thousands in attendance, many young people showed up to showcase their pride.

Charles said creating safe spaces for young people is one of the fundamental aspects of the event.

“They say that people are more queer nowadays, but it’s not that there are more queer people because we’re being propagandized. It’s just because more people feel safe to be queer - we’ve always been here,” Charles said.

Finn Sinclair and Georgia Slater, also Aden Bowman Collegiate students, showed up with many classmates who were excited to showcase their pride.

“I’m so happy that schools are supporting this... like, supporting queer students and showing that teachers and other students really care and that there’s a good support system,” Sinclair said.

“It’s just a representation of how far we’ve come. Like, there’s a whole community, I think, as well as individuals. And just to see that, no matter what happens, we keep coming back and we’re stronger every time we come back,” Slater said.

Sinclair said while the Pride Parade is now a celebration, the history of the event is important to remember.

“It shows the struggles of people who have come before us who have fought to get to this place. It’s a celebration of those people... It shows the amount of progress we’ve made. Obviously, it’s not perfect in our day right now, but it shows that people really do care for queer people and queer rights,” Sinclair said.

Latendresse said pride is an annual opportunity for people to become more educated on the history of LGBTQ2S+ rights and the many issues still facing the community.

“I also hope that they feel a little bit more educated than they were when they got here. Perhaps they’ll look up a bit of the history of the struggles of people and, you know, this whole event started out as a protest, and now it’s a celebration,” Latendresse said.