Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde will be participating in the Toronto Pride Parade on Sunday along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“The participation of the AFN National Chief is very significant,” said Pride Toronto communications manager Ryan Connelly.

“We have been in talks with the AFN National staff for a few weeks discussing Chief Bellegarde’s participation and were working very closely to make this happen. We’re very excited to have him here to march with us.”

Bellegarde said in April that respect needs to be restored for two-spirit people in Indigenous communities.

“If there is discrimination, if there is intolerance, if there’s racism toward our two-spirited people, that has to end,” Bellegarde told The Canadian Press.

Premier Kathleen Wynne and Mayor John Tory will also be in the parade.

Connelly said the participation of the leaders of the three levels of government and the AFN National Chief is a strong embodiment of this year’s theme, “+”, a plus sign.

It shows how the LGBTQ community and the two-spirit and Indigenous members of the community bring something special, valuable and unique to Toronto and the rest of Canada.

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The annual Pride Parade gets underway at 2 p.m. on the intersection of Church St. and Bloor St. It will conclude at Yonge and Dundas Square. Road closures will be in effect.

More than 150 groups including CAMH, Canadian Armed Forces, Google Canada, Metrolinx and SickKids will be participating in the parade.

CUPE Ontario, which is among the participants, will honour their president Fred Hahn with the Solidarity and Pride Champion award on Friday evening for his contributions to LGBTQ rights in the workplace.

Montreal’s Pride festivities won’t get underway until August, but they will have a booth during the parade on Church and Wellesley Sts.

This year’s Pride has had its fair share of issues.

Police officers won’t be marching in their uniforms after Pride Toronto decided to honour its agreement with Black Lives Matter Toronto.

However, dozens of police officers will be able to march in their uniforms with members of the New York Police Department at the New York Pride parade on Sunday after getting an invitation from the Gay Officers Action League of New York.

In a statement released last month, Pride Toronto organizers said LGBTQ police officers are welcome to march in the parade with community groups. They requested that officers “not include” uniforms, weapons or vehicles.

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Black Lives Matter staged a sit-in last year and demanded Pride organizers to sign an agreement which includes banning Toronto police from having a float this year.

Black Lives Matter won’t be taking part in the parade on Sunday after failing to register by the May 20 deadline.

With files from Star staff

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