Capital Pride has 'no intentions' of barring uniformed police from parade
Giacomo Panico | CBC News | Posted: July 14, 2016 7:09 PM | Last Updated: July 14, 2016
Pride organizers in St. John's, Nfld., asked uniformed officers to stay away from their event
The chair of Ottawa's Pride festival says organizers have no intention of excluding anyone — including uniformed police officers — from their parade in August.
Tammy Dopson addressed the matter during the festival's media launch Thursday.
The question arose in the wake of a decision in early July by pride festival organizers in St. John's, Nfld, who asked off-duty police officers not to walk in uniform in that city's upcoming march.
"No final decision has been made on any position at this point in time," said Dopson. "What I can say is that we have no intentions of making exclusion a part of inclusion, obviously it doesn't fit."
Police participation in Pride parades was also in the spotlight July 3, when members of Toronto's Black Lives Matter movement briefly halted Toronto's Pride parade. They demanded organizers no longer include police floats in the parade.
Dopson acknowledged that her group — whose motto is "Inclusive. Positive.Open." — has been in talks with Ottawa police and Ottawa's black community.
Looking to other festivals for cues
"We're looking at what other Prides are doing. We're going to be taking everything they do as a cue for how we will move forward," said Dopson.
Also during Thursday's event, organizers revealed the theme for this year's festival: "Bathrooms Without Borders." It's an effort to poke a bit of fun at the debate in the U.S. over gender-neutral bathrooms, all while raising awareness of the seriousness of the issue.
This year's Ottawa Capital Pride festival runs August 15 to 21.