City police will not take part in celebrations
Saskatoon’s city police force will not take part in this year’s virtual Pride parade, both police and organizers say.
Co-organizer Natasha King said organizers started “feeling out” the local community’s thoughts on police participation after the death of George Floyd and the public response to his death and to policing issues worldwide.
Floyd, a 46-year-old unarmed Black man, died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. People at rallies across the globe have called for justice for Black people killed or assaulted by police, and for an end to anti-black racism.
Organizers heard community feedback expressing that police can’t be involved in the parade this year, King said.
Pride celebrations are taking place online this month due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing guidelines. The Saskatoon 2020 Virtual Pride Parade will take place on June 20. Participants have been invited to submit videos or collections of photographs; Saskatoon police applied to enter a video.
Organizers and police had conversations about police involvement and police were told officers could not wear uniforms or carry firearms in the video submission, as they similarly wouldn’t do in Pride parades. In a conversation with another organizer, a police representative told them they wouldn’t make the video, King said.
At Thursday’s Pride board meeting, members supported the decision not to have police in the parade. King described it as a “mutually-agreed upon thing.”
Police spokeswoman Alyson Edwards said in an email that police are disappointed they will not be taking part in the virtual Pride parade, but they support Pride’s decision.
“Our relationship with the gender and sexually diverse community is an important one to the SPS and we want to ensure our support comes in forms community members are comfortable with,” Edwards told The Starphoenix in an email.
Police involvement in Pride parades has been contentious across Canada, particularly in Toronto, where Pride organizers banned police from wearing their uniforms while marching in Pride parades over the last few years.
“We always have kind of been quietly a middle ground. Because we do have a number of community members that are part of the police and they really feel strongly that they should be able to march representing their occupation in the parade,” King said.
It’s too early to tell whether the decision will carry over to 2021, since a different board will organize Pride celebrations next year.
The decision was made before police put a 12-year constable on paid leave Friday, after learning of “offensive and hurtful” content aimed at the gender and sexually diverse community on his social-media account.
King said police Chief Troy Cooper called her and another organizer that morning to brief them, and that he sounded sincere and “pretty broken up.”
She said she appreciated that someone found the social-media content and pointed it out, and she wants to thank them for calling attention to it.