VANCOUVER— Black Lives Matter Vancouver will boycott this year’s Pride Parade because the group doesn’t agree with police officers participating in the event. The group is now gearing up to host an alternative event, the second annual March on Pride.

Since it formed in 2016, the city’s chapter of Black Lives Matter has not participated as a group in the Pride Parade — despite many of its members being part of the LGBTQ community — and has been a vocal opponent of the Vancouver Police Department’s participation in the city’s flagship LGBTQ celebration.

This year the Pride Society will be restricting the ways in which the police can be in the parade. Police will not be allowed to march in the parade wearing their uniforms, or use police vehicles. Instead, officers are being invited to participate as part of the City of Vancouver’s entrance, said Andrea Arnot, director of the Vancouver Pride Society.

But Black Lives Matter Vancouver says the Pride Society’s restrictions on officers are not enough, and want police removed from the parade altogether.

“The police are still part of Pride as an institution, which is an institution that still oppresses marginalized groups, and queer and trans people of colour,” said BLM-V’s Sandra Iroegbu.

In its continued opposition to police presence at Pride, the grassroots group is spearheading the March on Pride, a protest that will take to Davie St. in Vancouver’s gay village on Saturday.

The event, said Iroegbu, is an effort to create a politicized community space that centres the experiences of Black, Indigenous and people of colour who are queer or transgender, and to honour the political origins of pride parades.

Vancouver police will not be participating in the demonstration, Iroegbu said, except in their role as traffic control. In a statement, the Vancouver Police Department said it would “have officers assigned to this event and they will be primarily in a traffic safety role.”

Andrea Arnot, director of the Vancouver Pride Society, said that despite the protest’s name, the society doesn’t feel that it creates tension between itself and BLM-V.

“We encourage people to choose the events that make them feel welcome, safe and included, and a way for them to celebrate Pride,” she said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about: