Pride puzzled by BLM’s missed parade deadline

But activist group’s absence won’t affect police presence, event organizers confirm

Organizers with Toronto Pride say they have no idea why Black Lives Matter didn’t register by the May 20 deadline for this year’s parade — a move guaranteeing the controversial group can’t take part in the June 25 march.

Pride said its final list of registered participants is now posted online, and the fate of Black Lives Matter — which protests police violence against the Black community and speaks out against oppression facing others including the LGBT and Indigenous communities — is final and can’t be overturned.

Pride declined Saturday to provide an official comment on the situation. Black Lives Matter hasn’t given Pride organizers a reason for missing the deadline, and Pride said it doesn’t want to speculate about the reasons. But it said the decision by Black Lives Matter wasn’t the result of any dispute Pride is aware of.

Black Lives Matter did not reply to the Star on Saturday but the organization said it will be releasing a statement in the coming days through social media.

Pride doesn’t plan to reach out to Black Lives Matter about the group’s decision, and said it is focusing its energies and resources on putting on a successful festival by working with those who registered to participate.

Black Lives Matter’s relationship with the Pride parade has been fraught with controversy.

Black Lives Matter brought last year’s parade to a standstill for more than half an hour by staging a sit-in at Yonge and College Sts. The group said it launched the demonstration to hold Pride accountable for its “anti-Blackness.”

The group presented a list of demands, including calls for more diversity among Pride staff, and the hiring of Black transgender, Black queer women and Indigenous people for Pride staff positions. The group also asked that police not have floats in the parade.

Mathieu Chantelois, the executive director of Pride at the time, signed the list of demands on the spot, but in the days afterward said he had no plans to agree to the demands before speaking to the Pride community, and that he signed the demands to halt the sit-in and get the parade moving.

The sit-in resulted in Black Lives Matter receiving hate mail.

Pride later apologized for how it handled the protest.

In January, most of Pride’s membership agreed to support Black Lives Matter’s demands, including the most controversial: that police not have a visible presence in the parade. No uniforms, guns or police vehicles.

The decision was viewed by LGBT members of the Toronto Police Service and their supporters as a broadside. Toronto police have been a presence at the Pride march for more than 10 years.

In February, Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders announced that the service had decided to pull out of this year’s parade. Saunders is working with Pride in an attempt to hammer out an agreement that could see the police back in the parade next year.

Afew days ago, a Toronto city councillor tried but failed to have a $260,000 grant to Pride Toronto from the city suspended. Councillor John Campbell’s motion, which was defeated 17-27 called for the money to be provided only if uniformed police were welcomed at the parade.

In arguing for his motion, Campbell said, “You don’t bring people together by pushing them apart, and that has been Pride’s solution. You’re either inclusive or you’re not.”

Pride said Saturday that the decision to ask the police not to be a visible presence this year won’t be changed by the fact Black Lives Matter won’t be there. The decision regarding police participation was made by way of a membership vote and cannot be unilaterally undone, Pride said.