The head of the Ottawa Police Association is urging pride organizers in the capital not to ban police from their annual parade.

Matt Skof made his case for police particapation in an open letter to the city's Pride organizers.

The letter was prompted by a decision by Toronto Pride on January 18, 2017 to exclude all police floats and booths in that city's parade. The Toronto decision was prompted by demamds made by Black Lives Matter. Members of the BLM movement in Toronto staged a sit-in at the start of the Toronto Pride parade in the summer of 2016.

Skof wrote that excluding police is a "mistake" and sends the wrong message to the community.