Rethink stand on police, councillor tells Capital Pride
Off-duty officers urged not to wear uniforms so all can feel ‘safe’
Coun. Allan Hubley says he’s “very profoundly disappointed” that Capital Pride doesn’t want uniformed off-duty police officers to be part of its parade in August.
“They are segregating our police officers from the event, yet they and every other event want our police officers to do their traffic management and keep them safe,” Hubley said Tuesday during an interview in his city hall office.
“We rely on these officers to keep our families safe every day, keep our community safe, and this in my view is no way to treat the men and women of the Ottawa police.”
Hubley’s son Jamie died by suicide in October 2011. The 15-yearold boy, who told his family he was bisexual, was suffering from depression and was bullied, Hubley said.
“Out of respect of my son’s memory, I’m going to speak out here, right now,” Hubley said Tuesday. “I want that (Pride) committee to rethink its decision.”
Capital Pride says it consulted with the community on the issue of police participation in the parade and heard from youths who thought uniformed police shouldn’t be involved in the event.
In a written statement released last Friday, the organization said: “Indeed, we hope that members of police forces at all levels attend Pride events with their friends, families and colleagues. However, it is of prime importance to us that everyone feels safe at Pride, particularly LGBTQ2 youth, and racialized and Indigenous community members. Accordingly, we respectfully request that participating officers reserve their uniforms and vehicles for official work duties only this year.”
The Capital Pride spokesperson couldn’t be reached on Tuesday.
Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney, the first openly gay woman on Ottawa council, said she has no opinion on the Capital Pride’s decision on uniformed police, but on Tuesday she said the organization did its due diligence by consulting the community and is now making a “fair ask.”
The Ottawa Police Service is giving officers the choice of wearing their uniforms in the parade, but the police force won’t have a float or vehicle in the parade.
Hubley said he doesn’t speak for the Ottawa Police Services board, but he’s a member of the board.
The Kanata South councillor said the city shouldn’t even be giving money to Capital Pride for the parade if uniformed police aren’t allowed to participate.
“What my son was all about was he was saying how people needed to be more respectful of each other and respect that there’s differences amongst us all and be more inclusive,” he said. “To me, that’s what the Pride parade was all about.”
Hubley said his son attended his first Pride parade in the summer before he died. At the time, the father told his son that he wanted to attend the parade with him, maybe even ride the official City of Ottawa float together.
“He said, ‘No Dad, I want to go down with my friends and enjoy the whole celebration and I can’t do that if I bring my dad,’ because no one else was bringing their dad,” Hubley said.
“At the time, I thought there would be other parades, I’ll get a chance to go with him.”