TORONTO POLICE PULL OUT OF 'PRIDE PARADE', REACTION MIXED
Feb 10, 2017
By Bob Komsic
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Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders has announced the service will not take part in this year’s Pride Parade.
(Darren Calabrese / Canadian Press)
He says there are divisions within the LGBTQ communities and the move is being made to enable the differences to be addressed.
Police Association President Mike McCormack disagrees, calling it a ”kneejerk reaction” and ”political pandering”.
(Fred Lum / The Globe and Mail)
He predicts this might come at the expense of the police service relationship with those communities.
While the mayor respects the police chief’s decision, John Tory says he’s disappointed and frustrated with the situation that’s brought it about.
( Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star)
The decision comes after most of those in attendance at Pride Toronto’s annual general meeting last month voted to adopt demands from the Black Lives Matter group, including the banning of police floats from the annual parade.
(CBC)
BLM’s Sandy Hudson says removing police from the parade’s necessary so people feel safe.
Tory remains hopeful this can be resolved ”in a way that may seem better than today.”