For 12 of the 13 years Danny Papadatos has chaired the Saskatoon Pride Festival, the city’s mayor — who’s been in office for that entire time — has declined invitations to march in the event’s parade. (The first year Papadatos was in the role of chair, the mayor wasn’t sent an invite.)

This year will be no different, as Mayor Don Atchison won’t be able to attend since it falls on the same day as his father’s 90th birthday. Atchison isn’t the only mayor to not attend Pride parades.

Toronto’s former mayor, the late Rob Ford, was heavily criticized for skipping the city’s Pride festivities every year he was in office, even when it played host to the World Pride festival in 2014.

Last year, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro barred the Italian city from hosting a Pride parade, saying it was the “height of kitsch.”

Back in Saskatchewan event organizers send the Saskatoon mayor a letter requesting his attendance several months in advance, letting him know when the flag-raising ceremony and the parade will take place.

“We’ll normally get a response letting us know what other event he’s at,” Papadatos told Yahoo Canada News. “Last year we were told that he was going to be away, out of the city, but then he was recorded in the city at a different event.”

Papadatos says while he’s pleased that the conversation about LGBTQ awareness and the Pride festival is happening, he wishes it didn’t have to focus on the mayor’s lack of attendance.

“We can all fairly say that 13 years of missing a parade regardless of how many duties you have as an elected official, is not OK,” he says. “We don’t feel supported…. to me silence breeds ignorance or to keep the stigma of what’s surrounding our community.”

He adds that he’s met with the mayor and expressed to him how his lack of attendance “looks to our community and how it feels as someone within the community.”

Atchison was at the flag-raising ceremony on Monday and is expected to attend several other Pride-related events over the next few weeks, which Papadatos calls a “step in the right direction.”

“It did sound like he wanted to reach out and work together with the community,” he says.

Yahoo Canada News was unable to reach Atchison for comment.

This year will mark the 24th Saskatoon Pride Festival. It is celebrated over the course of 10 days with a parade on Saturday and 34 different events throughout the city. Last year it drew more than 10,000 people.

Several city councilors will be attending the event, including Charlie Clark, who recently announced his mayoral candidacy for the city’s October municipal election.

