Toronto police will withdraw an application they submitted for officers to march in this year’s Pride parade.

The decision was made to avoid “any setback” in the relationship between the police service and Toronto’s queer communities, chief Mark Saunders wrote in a statement Tuesday. The goal is to restore confidence in police in what, he admitted, are “challenging times.”

The decision comes after a joint statement Monday evening by Pride Toronto and several community organizations, calling on police to withdraw their request to participate.

“My hope is that this move will be received as a concrete example of the fact that I am listening closely to the community’s concerns and I am committed thoroughly to building a better, stronger relationship between us,” Saunders wrote.

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The statement from Pride and community groups stressed moving forward as well, but also cited anger, shock and grief, stemming from the deaths of Majeed Kayhan, Soroush Mahmudi, Dean Lisowick, Selim Esen, Andrew Kinsman, Skandaraj Navaratnam and an unidentified man — all allegedly victims of Bruce McArthur — as well as those of Tess Richey, who was slain in the Gay Village, and Alloura Wells, a transgender woman whose body was found in a ravine.

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Police investigations into each disappearance were “insufficient,” the groups said.

“Community knowledge and expertise was not accessed and despite the fact many of us felt and voiced our concerns, we were dismissed.”

Becky McFarlane, senior director of the 519, said Tuesday that she was surprised that police submitted an application to march at all, given the circumstances. She cautioned police not to conflate acknowledging a problem with the police service with solving that problem.

“The chief of police has consistently said that he wants to repair relationships with the community, and I believe that to be true. I’m just not sure that he grasps what the expectations are from the community in terms of what dialogue and consultation look like,” she said.

“We get so caught up in this conversation about whether or not it’s appropriate for police to march in a one-day parade, that has its roots in a historical social justice struggle. I think what gets lost is the reality that we’re talking about human lives here. We’re talking about people who are being harmed, who have been harmed, who are no longer with us because of, I think, significant bias and discrimination on the part of the Toronto Police Service,” she added.

“And I think, when we elevate the conversation to a place that acknowledges loss, and the extent to which many in our community are grappling with anger and grief and disbelief and shame and all sorts of other things, that’s where we need to be.”

The police service submitted their application in late February or early March, LGBTQ2S Liason Officer Danielle Bottineau told the Star, saying Pride Toronto’s executive director encouraged them to do so “as a result of our ongoing conversations and consultations.”

Local advocates and the police union raised questions Tuesday about why Pride Toronto didn’t make the decision itself to deny police a space in the parade and reject their application.

“Why they’re allowing police to, sort of, have the kind of power that they had, such that they’d have to ask them to withdraw their application rather than just denying it, is something that we really need to question as a community,” Syrus Marcus Ware, a core team member of Black Lives Matter Toronto, said in an interview Tuesday.

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“Where is the ownership of Pride?

“Surely it’s not in the hands of police.”

Just before a decision was made, Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack said he wouldn’t be surprised if the police application to march was withdrawn. “I think more than likely it will be. But do I think it’s the right thing to do? No.”

If Pride felt they had “legitimate reasons” for police to be excluded, he said, they should “come out and say it.” He acknowledged that police needed to “look at” the McArthur case and come to an understanding of what happened there, saying any analysis needed to be “based on facts and the evidence around that.”

“I think the frustrating part is that we understand that there’s work to be done in the relationship between the community and police,” McCormack said. “This is a huge departure from where we were 25 years ago, and there’s a lot of hard work on both parts. We’re looking for some positive narrative to go around, instead of having a wedge that continues to be driven in.”

But rejecting an application would not be “the spirit of partnership” that Pride Toronto is trying to create, the organization’s executive director Olivia Nuamah told the Star. “The act is one of asking them whether or not they hear us enough to respond, as opposed to waiting for a moment where we can say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ ” she said. “We didn’t see how we could move forward from that position.”

The police service recently announced that it’ll pursue an independent investigation into its handling of missing persons cases, with a focus on systemic bias. Its professional standards unit is also reviewing the deaths of Richey and Wells. And while the community mourns all the deaths, Nuamah said it didn’t feel “comfortable” celebrating alongside the police service.

Emails obtained by the Star , through freedom of information requests, show that, at one point, Pride Toronto and the police force had reached an agreement about officers being able to march, uniformed, in this year’s parade.

“Pride and TPS have agreed that there will be a police presence, in uniform, in the 2018 parade,” wrote former mayor’s aide Bryan Frois in a briefing note for John Tory, on Aug. 9. Saunders had suggested marching with 30 officers, without vehicles or floats.

“This would be part of a co-ordinated effort between Pride Toronto and Toronto police to carefully reintroduce the service into the festivities.”

Tory said Tuesday that he’d been “hopeful” that the matter would be resolved this year, but “tragic circumstances” arose that no one saw coming. He re-affirmed his commitment to providing funding for the parade.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said Tuesday that she understood that “with all of the things that have happened over the last year,” the relationship was strained.

“I think that Pride needs to work with the police. And the police need to, I think, step up and work with Pride to resolve that relationship,” she said. “And I hope that happens.”

With files from Samantha Beattie, Rob Ferguson and Ben Spurr

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