The Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) will not participate in the Montreal Pride parade this Sunday. The organization behind the event judged that the police force still had “work to do” in terms of inclusivity.
Pride Montreal recognizes that this decision has disappointed police officers who are members of the LGBTQ + communities, many of whom would have been ready to march in uniform on Sunday to show how far they have come within the police. The festival nevertheless assumes its position.
“Historically and still today, some of our communities have been abused by police forces. And since we represent all the communities, we just couldn’t include police forces in the parade, ”defended Simon Gamache, general manager of Pride Montreal.
Mr. Gamache refers, among other things, to the numerous police raids that took place until the 1990s in gay bars in the metropolis. Even if this is not the main reason for this decision, the general manager of Pride Montreal does not hide that the whole question of racial profiling also weighed in the balance.
Remember that the SPVM and the City of Montreal made their mea culpa in 2017 for the police raids that took place between the 60s and 90s, and which led to the arrest of several gay men at the time. On Monday, when a rainbow flag was erected in front of the SPVM offices, the interim director general even reiterated these excuses. During this ceremony, at which Montreal Pride was also represented, Sophie Roy assured that she wanted to “continue the path of reconciliation and collaboration”.
“It’s good, but it’s not yet [suffisant]. It is fundamental for us to ensure that everything we do is responsible for our communities,” commented Simon Gamache on Friday in an interview with The duty.
The SPVM says it respects Pride Montreal’s decision, recognizing in the same breath that the police force still has efforts to make to solidify its ties with people of sexual diversity. “Our relationship with LGBTQ2+ communities is better today, but like everything, we can always improve. This is why we maintain a sustained dialogue with the representatives of these communities. […] We hope that people from all LGBTQ2+ communities can place their trust in us today and look with us to the present and the future,” Montreal police said in an email.
To achieve this, the SPVM relies, among other things, on training that has been offered since last year to its police officers to make them aware of the reality of LGBTQ + people.
Not a first
The SPVM is the only police force to have shown its interest in the parade this year. The Sûreté du Québec had already informed Pride Montreal of its opening a few years ago, but the organization had refused to allow SQ police officers to parade in uniform for the same reasons. Despite everything, both the SPVM and the SQ told the To have to this week have a good relationship with Montreal Pride. The organization is not closing the door, moreover, so that the police forces can one day participate in the flagship event of the festival.
The Montreal parade is not the only one in the country to exclude the police. This was the case in previous years in Toronto or in Edmonton, where soldiers were not welcome either.
In the metropolis on Sunday, however, the Canadian Armed Forces will be present in the procession, like more than a hundred companies and organizations. It is also expected that representatives of all major political parties will be present. Of all the organizations that wanted to participate in the parade, the SPVM is the only one to have been refused this year.