Revellers pour into rainy Toronto for 1st Pride parade since Bruce McArthur's arrest

The joyous and celebratory atmosphere of Toronto's 38th Pride parade briefly turned sombre on Sunday as revellers paused for a moment of silence for LGBT victims of violence. 

The remembrance held special significance this year as the city's LGBT community reels from the arrest of an alleged serial killer who police say preyed on eight men with ties to Toronto's Gay Village.

Thousands of people who braved heavy rain to line the two-kilometre route participated in the moment of silence before getting the party — one of the biggest in North America — going once again. 

The parade wound its way adjacent the entire length of Toronto's iconic Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, down Yonge street from Bloor Street in the north to Dundas Street East in the south. More than 120 groups marched with some 197 different floats.

Organizers are using this year's celebration, which caps off an entire month of events throughout the city, to recognize decades of HIV/AIDS activism in Canada. 

"In Toronto, Pride Month focuses on remembering our fight for survival; it's unending and every year its importance grows. In 2018 … we celebrate those organizations that have been created to support the community and continue to act as cornerstones for all of us," the heads of Pride Toronto said in a statement. 

The Grand Marshall of this year's parade was Haran Vijayanathan, executive director of the Alliance for South Asian AIDS Prevention. He said that while Pride is a time for celebration, the events of this year are evidence that LGBT people in Canada still face some troubling realities.

"We need to be aware that there's a lot more to do to maintain the safety and human rights of LGBTQ2S folks in this country and right here in this very city," he told CBC Toronto.

"But that's not to say  that there's no hope. I think we're on the right path to having those difficult conversations."

Returning Pride to its activist roots has been a priority for the current board of directors and many front-line LGBT organizations. While the parade has undoubtedly become a corporate affair, it began as an act of defiance and solidarity. 

Those roots have come to the fore during recent years with the ascendance of social justice groups like Black Lives Matter. For the second consecutive year, uniformed Toronto police officers are barred from marching in the parade, an extension of a policy spawned from a 2016 Black Lives Matter protest at the event. 

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Police had in fact applied to participate in this year's parade, a move that garnered backlash from the LGBT community despite ongoing efforts behind the scenes to mend the relationship. Just weeks later, Chief Mark Saunders withdrew the application.

In an April interview with CBC Radio's Metro Morning, Pride Toronto's executive director was blunt about what caused another breakdown between police and LGBTQ residents.

"What changed? What changed was Bruce McArthur, to be honest with you. What changed was the re-emergence of that feeling, of that feeling of a lack of safety," said Olivia Nuamah.

McArthur, a landscaper, was arrested in January and subsequently charged with eight counts of first-degree murder. Most of his alleged victims were men who spent time in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, also called the Gay Village. 

McArthur's apprehension came less than two months after Saunders said publicly that there was no evidence a serial killer was preying on gay men in Toronto. 

Five of his alleged victims were subjects of two separate missing persons task forces established by Toronto police. As Nuamah and other activists have outlined, some in the LGBT community felt that concerns about the disappearances of men from the village were downplayed or outright ignored by investigators. 

Danielle Botineau, LGBTQ liaison officer for Toronto police, has been involved in the working groups that are trying to find a constructive way to move forward.

"What we need to do is take ownership of our mistakes and move forward from there and get better at our connection with the community," she said. 

"All I can ask is that the community is open to us."

Mike Morris, a 29-year-old nursing student who came to the parade bare-chested and in a rainbow Speedo, says the allegations against McArthur and strain between the community and police reaffirmed his desire to attend the parade.

He says the LGBT community needs to come together during "difficult situations."

A contingent of marchers dressed entirely in black followed behind the main parade this year in what organizers are calling the Until We're Safe March, in a "tribute to community members lost as well as those who continue to feel unsafe in the community."

Politics of Pride

Ontario's premier-designate Doug Ford did not attend this year's parade. During the provincial election campaign, Ford said he would consider going if uniformed police were allowed to participate. 

The position is in keeping with that of Ford's late brother, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, who used to tell reporters that he couldn't attend the parade because it always fell on the same weekend as his annual family getaway to cottage country.

During an interview on Sunday, Toronto Mayor John Tory said that he'd "like to think that the full roster of those of us in public could be here."

Tory and Ford have a contentious history, as Ford has been a vocal critic of many of Tory's policies at city hall.

"But I'm optimistic he will be here in future years," Tory said.

For her part, Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath wore a black arm band around her wrist Sunday as a signifier of the "poignant" and "painful" moment the community is facing after McArthur's arrest.

"There are still tensions with the police and I believe that dialogue has to continue to happen and that it will resolve with respect from both sides, but those things are part of the context of moving us forward as a province and as a city, and I'm happy to be here and part of that positive revolution," Horwath said.

She marched alongside with federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who pointed out that Pride is a "revolutionary movement to take space for a community that has always been marginalized."

He added that Pride will always be faced with discussions that are sometimes difficult, such as the current ones around the deaths and police.

"Love is love, it truly is, but there is so much more that needs to be done... There's been concerns around a trust that's broken down," he said, calling for the end of carding.

"The only way we can have good policing is when there's a trust between the police and the public and that is something we need to have."

Meanwhile Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a frequent presence at Pride events across Canada, wasn't in Toronto for the parade either. Instead, he was in Quebec for Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations.