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“We are obviously disappointed with the decision that police will not be allowed to march in uniform, but we are not going to allow it to undo decades of progress between law enforcement and the LGBTQ community in Calgary,” Chief Roger Chaffin said in a statement.

“We have a far better relationship with the LGBTQ community now than we did even 10 years ago and we want to keep that forward momentum.”

Jason Kingsley, president of Calgary Pride, said the group had a full consultation with Calgary police and community groups such as VOICES that stand up for marginalized people.

“In a lot of cities, it’s actually very hard to get police to the table from what we’ve heard from some of our other Pride organizations across Canada, so the fact police were willing to come to the table and have that conversation was really impactful and meaningful to our community,” said Kingsley.

“Chief Chaffin and (Deputy Chief) Sat Parhar were definitely understanding and in agreement that if we wanted to see no uniforms in the parade, then that was something they would respect and honour.”

However, Coun. Diane Colley-Urquhart, who is a former police commissioner and a past Pride Parade marshal, expressed her disappointment with the decision.

Ted Rhodes/Postmedia

“I really need to understand to a far greater extent the leadership and the decisions they’re making, and the implications this has on a go-forward basis. I just can’t support the decision and I can’t be walking in the Pride parade this year,” said Colley-Urquhart, adding she has always supported Pride but believes this is a setback in the relationship with police.