A Toronto police request to march in the June 24 Pride Parade follows months of talks and false starts that highlight the rocky relationship between police and the city’s LGTBQ community, documents obtained by the Star reveal.

No final decision has been made on police wearing uniforms in the parade, a Toronto police spokesperson said.

While discussions are ongoing, Pride Toronto was at one point in favour of police marching in uniforms in 2018, according to emails obtained through a freedom of information request.

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Last year, Toronto police were banned from uniformed participation after Black Lives Matter Toronto held a sit-in protest during the 2016 parade. Black Lives Matter argued a police presence could discourage marginalized communities from attending the parade.

Pride Toronto agreed to the ban for the 2017 parade on June 25, but revisited the ban for the 2018 parade in the months following as evidenced from a briefing note prepared for Mayor John Tory on Aug. 9, by his former aide Bryan Frois.

“Pride and TPS have agreed that there will be a police presence — in uniform — in the 2018 parade,” wrote Frois. “Pride, specifically (executive director) Olivia (Nuamah), has met in the summer months with Chief (Mark) Saunders to go over the issue of police participation in the 2018 festival, and what it will consist of.”

“Chief Saunders has suggested that he would have 30 officers march with him, 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.”

Frois also contends that the 2017 Pride festival had significantly lower attendance, at 1.3 million visitors, partly because of the “effects of BLM/police issue.”

No definitive resolution was reached by November, however, and communications director Don Peat confirmed the mayor’s dissatisfaction to strategic initiatives director Siri Agrell.

“He’s (Mayor John Tory) been pretty consistent that he’s not happy with the situation and that he wants Pride and the police to work on resolving it,” Peat wrote in an email Nov. 21.

Discussions continued but it appears by mid-January 2018 Pride Toronto wanted to take a different approach.

“They came back to me yesterday to suggest police not in uniform, the chief in uniform,” wrote Nuamah to Agrell on Jan. 16. “They are taking it to the chief today for approval.”

Two days later, Jan. 18, police arrested Bruce McArthur. McArthur is charged with six counts of first-degree murder in relation to men who had a connection to Toronto’s Gay Village.

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McArthur’s arrest followed years of missing persons reports and suspicions in and around the Gay Village that a serial killer was at work.

Saunders told the Globe and Mail in February that McArthur might have been arrested sooner if civilians had provided police with information. Last week, the Toronto police board voted unanimously to commission an external investigation into how the force conducts missing-persons probes.

“I think this year, more than any year, Pride is going to be a time of reflection, and may feel more sombre perhaps in the wake of all the deaths,” Syrus Marcus Ware, a team member at BLM Toronto and a trans man, told the Star in early March.

Neither Pride Toronto nor Toronto police would say if Saunders signed off on the decision for Saunders alone to march in uniform.

“An application to participate (in the parade) has been submitted,” Toronto police spokesperson Meaghan Gray confirmed Wednesday. “However, the current status of the application is still pending a final decision.”

Pride Toronto’s Nuamah declined repeated interview requests made by the Star, but told the Globe and Mail in early March that tensions over police participation is “a significant issue.”

She said in a statement to the Star Wednesday that after parade registration closes on April 30, Pride Toronto will spend two to three weeks going through the applications and will post the final parade list on its website June 1.

“Until this process has been completed no comment can be made on any individual or organizational registration,” she said.

Tory continues to receive updates on the ongoing discussions, said Peat on Wednesday. “He firmly believes this is a matter that the police and the LGBT2Q community will work out, with restored trust and collaboration as the number one priority.”

With files from Vjosa Isai

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