City police won’t wear uniforms in Pride parade

Police officers won’t be sporting their usual uniforms when they participate in Saskatoon’s Pride parade this year.

On Friday, city police announced they have been working with Saskatoon Pride and OUTSaskatoon on both the operational aspects of the parade and having officers participate, according to a police news release.

The release noted the goal of all involved was to “ensure that the primary focus of Pride Month was the LGBTQ2S+ community, including celebrating its strengths and working to overcome barriers people still face, over and above undue media attention around police involvement in the Pride parade.”

Whether police should be allowed to wear their uniforms in Pride parades has been controversial across Canada.

A spokesman for Federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has said Scheer won’t attend the Regina Pride parade partly because organizers won’t allow police to march in uniform.

“We heard the community ’s concerns. Together, with the police and local LGBTQ2S+ community organization (OUTSaskatoon), we had conversations to give a voice to those often not heard and who feel a uniform can be a barrier,” Saskatoon Pride co-chair Connor Rodriguez said in a news release.

“We collectively made a decision with the Police for their members to walk in Saskatoon Police golf shirts to stand in solidarity and eliminate those barriers. Appropriately, our theme this year is ‘Bridging Communities.’ We all hope that this act will truly bridge our communities.”

The event’s other co-chair, Amy Rees, said in the release that the decision is a “continued step forward to building trust” in the police service, noting while there is still much work to be done, “having had these honest conversations all together, plays a big part in growing our relationship.”

Police Chief Troy Cooper said the service “does not want to contribute to any barriers. As such, we will proudly walk in the parade to represent the SPS, just not in traditional uniform,” he said in the release. “Whether we are in uniform or not we serve all citizens of all genders and sexual orientations. We are committed to reflecting that in our day-to-day operations.”