Pride event in Hamilton to be indoors with police presence, 3 years after violence in Gage Park

It's been three years since Hamilton's Pride celebrations were disrupted by anti-LGBTQ demonstrators, resulting in a violent confrontation, several arrests and, as an independent report later described, a damaged relationship between the LGBTQ community and police.

Pride Hamilton is now getting ready for its first in-person celebration since that 2019 event at Gage Park. This year's event will be held indoors in July 8 and 9.

As the celebration nears, some community members say the Hamilton Police Service (HPS) has more work to do to build back the fractured relationship.

"I'd like to see them…  acknowledge what they did, not just by apologizing for it, but talking specifically about what they did wrong," said Cameron Kroetsch, who was on the Pride Hamilton board in 2019 and was also the chair of the city's LGBTQ Advisory Committee.

"In my opinion, the mayor and the police haven't done what's necessary to meet the mark," Kroetsch, who is now a Ward 2 candidate in this fall's municipal election, told CBC Hamilton. 

The Pride Hamilton festival was disrupted on June 15, 2019, by a religious group with homophobic signs and people from the yellow vest movement, which is associated with far right groups. Protesters were met with Pride supporters who wore pink masks and used a large black curtain to shield the protesters from the view of the festival. Violence erupted, injuring several people. 

Police arrested one protester, charged three Pride supporters and arrested one person who was later found to not be at the festival.

An independent review by lawyer Scott Bergman found the police response to the violence was "inadequate" and the lack of police preparation meant the service "failed to protect" festival attendees. It also had 38 recommendations for police. 

The damning review came out just days after a leaked copy of an investigation by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, which found "policies and procedures were followed in this instance and that there were no identified issues."

The leaked report is among the issues that still chafe for Kroetsch.

"If you're trying to build trust with the community, why would you try to undermine the only external review being written?" he said. "I don't think they understand what it means to move toward a resolution and build trust."

Hamilton's police services board has since said it "sincerely and unreservedly apologizes" for what happened and that it will implement all 38 recommendations from Bergman's report.

A police board presentation made earlier this year said there are at least 16 outstanding recommendations to implement. Those include three related to the retention by HPS of a mediator to help guide talks with the community and establish a task force, HPS spokesperson Jackie Penman said in an email to CBC. The force is currently reviewing six names submitted by the community for that position, she said. 

Five recommendations are related to training, and another five are related to the next Pride event, which called for better police communication, planning and community consultation ahead of and during such an event.

'Police will be there to protect': Pride chair 

This year's Pride is being held at the Hamilton Convention Centre by Carmen's on July 8 and July 9, featuring two days of vendors and performers. The event closes with a show featuring drag performer and former RuPaul's Drag Race contestant Nicky Doll. 

The event will also have police present, says Pride Hamilton chair Kiel Hughes.

Police have consulted with the committee several times on a plan to protect those attending the event, Hughes says, and will be stationed inside and around the perimeter of the building.

"Police will be there to serve and protect like they're supposed to," Hughes told CBC Hamilton, while acknowledging a "tense" relationship between many community members and the police force.

"I am pretty adamant that if the police are going to be there, they're supposed to do what their mandate is. I am not interested in having police at Pride in a booth recruiting people or in their uniforms dancing around."

If they're working to make that change and do what they're supposed to do, I am not going to try to stop them.- Pride Hamilton chair Kiel Hughes

There is still much work left to do to repair the relationship between the police and the LGBTQ community, but police do seem to be making improvements, Hughes added. 

"I can see an effort is being made… As for how that will go and how that will look, that has yet to be determined… If they're working to make that change and do what they're supposed to do, I am not going to try to stop them. I would just encourage people to see what they're trying to do and see how best it will work to everyone's favour."

In 2020, Pride Hamilton filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the city and police, asking for $600,000 in damages. It said police discriminated against the organization by not protecting people at the Pride celebrations. 

That was before Hughes became chair, and when Kroetsch was still on the board. He says Hamilton police have applied to the tribunal to have the case dismissed, on the basis that the tribunal typically hears complaints from individuals, not organizations. Penman declined to confirm whether that is the case.

"That doesn't seem like an organization that's really interested in resolving things despite the tick-box exercise they're going through," says Kroetsch. 

This year's event is being held indoors for several reasons, says Hughes: safety; accessibility; timeline challenges given COVID-19 regulations that changed at the end of March; and cost, as an outdoor event would have required a significant spend on security, among other items.

'Nobody wants another virtual Pride'

Many in the community have complained about the indoor venue yet few have volunteered to help organize, said Hughes. The committee currently has only four board members and is exhausted, Hughes added, saying the indoor venue is only intended as a one-off for this year.

"Nobody wants another virtual Pride," Hughes said. "After looking through the options…, that was the choice as it would help to alleviate some of the strenuous work of trying to get license and permits in the short period of time."

The indoor nature of this year's event is a barrier for River Holland-Valade, who is immunocompromised and worried about the COVID-19 risk of a large, indoor event.

But many people in the community are desperate for a sense of connection at the moment, they said.

"The community as a whole is really struggling," says Holland-Valade, who is two-spirit and works in mental health services within that community. Pandemic isolation, burnout and struggles to keep up with the rising cost of living are among the challenges they are seeing regularly among their peers and clients.

"There's a number of people through the pandemic and through lockdown that didn't previously identify as LGBTQ, and this is the first Pride they'll be accessing," Holland-Valade told CBC Hamilton.

While there have been many Pride events held in Hamilton in recent weeks, including Queer Prom hosted by Fruit Salad in May and an outdoor Pride picnic hosted by The House of Adam and Steve on June 18, the July event is the only one put on by Pride Hamilton.

"[Knowing what happened at the last Pride] might discourage some of the people that really need resources and to connect the most," Holland-Valade said.

They were at the 2019 event and said there is still a lot of pain left over from what happened that day, noting many people they know will feel uncomfortable in an "enclosed" space with police present.

"I know I would feel uncomfortable, especially as a queer and trans person of colour," said Holland-Valade. "If something did happen, will they actually protect the community? Because they failed to in the past."