TORONTO — An activist group fighting for more rights for racialized communities says the way organizers of Canada's largest Pride parade deal with blackness and black LGBTQ youth is "abysmal."
Black Lives Matter Toronto says organizers, particularly Pride Toronto's executive director Mathieu Chantelois, need to be held accountable for their actions.
The group, a Canadian chapter of the a larger U.S. movement, temporarily halted Toronto's Pride parade Sunday to issue a series of demands that included more funding and better representation for racialized communities during Pride events.
It also called for a ban on police floats in future parades, though stressed that individual officers identifying as LGBTQ would be welcome.
The parade resumed about half an hour later when Chantelois signed the list of demands but told the media that he only did it so he could get the event moving again.
The protest was the latest in a series of actions taken by the group that has frequently accused Toronto police of racial profiling and violence against the black community.
