People who want police in Vancouver Pride Parade say LGBTQ community has long history of positive engagement with police

Over 2,600 signatures collected on petition to keep police officers in Vancouver Pride Parade

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – A group of people who want the Vancouver Police Department to continue being part of the Pride Parade will deliver their counter-petition to the Vancouver Pride Society Monday.

The individuals, who call themselves Our Pride Includes the Police, have managed to collect over 2,600 signatures to prove people do want police officers in the parade.

The group says the local LGBTQ community has a long history of positive engagement with the police department, and their presence in the parade signifies the progress made in the fight for LGBTQ equality.

Their petition is in response to one circulated by Black Lives Matter, which wants the removal of all uniformed police presence at the popular annual parade. That petition has garnered 800 signatures.

Last year, Vancouver police made a compromise with Black Lives Matter, and agreed to appear in the parade without their armoured rescue vehicle.

Black Lives Matter has already convinced the Pride parades in Halifax and Toronto to exclude uniformed police officers.

They say having officers in the parade is inappropriate and insulting to Pride’s original organizers, who saw the parade as a protest.