SASKATOON -- As rallies and protests continue around the world, Saskatoon Pride is planning to collaborate with Black Lives Matter and Idle No More at this year’s virtual parade to show the progress that has been made with social justice movements and what still needs to be done, according to one of the organizers. 

“We all have a responsibility to change the oppression that we see in all of our organizations,” said Natasha King, co-chair of Saskatoon Diversity Network that puts on Saskatoon Pride. 

Thousands of rallies and protests have taken place in the U.S., Canada and around the world over the last couple weeks after George Floyd was killed while being arrested by police in Minneapolis, sparking conversations about police brutality and anti-Black racism. Three Black Lives Matter rallies have been held in Saskatoon so far.

“It really goes to show that we are all related in protest. I mean Pride started as a protest and a riot. And that’s why we celebrate near the end of June. The Stonewall riots were 51 years ago,” King said, noting that Pride has now become more of a celebration due to changes in legislation and public perception. 

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s Pride events and parade will be held online. King said they put out a call to the public to submit videos, saying and showing — through performance — what Pride means to them. Those videos will be used in the virtual parade. 

This year, King said they are looking to collaborate with Black Lives Matter and Idle No More on a piece at the beginning of the virtual Pride parade that showcases a collage of protests over the last 60 years both locally and around the world to “show how those movements have been able to effect change.”

The protests in the U.S. have also led King and her team to look at ways they can improve and help elevate the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of colour. 

“We sat back and really evaluated our events and tried to understand and see where have we and where can we decentralize whiteness,” she said. 

“We have a lot of people of colour and trans folks that are headlining and that are part of our parade, doing spoken word and all sorts of other musical performances.” 

No police participation 

Despite supporting the Pride movement, Saskatoon police, in collaboration with the festival, have decided to step back from participating in this year’s parade after the global rise in protests.

“In Saskatoon, we had in the past, taken more of a middle of the road approach where they were able to participate but not in uniform and not with firearms, and that was going to be the official word before all of this happened," King said.

The decision to not have police participation was made before a Saskatoon police constable was  put on administrative leave  on June 5 over concerns regarding social media posts that were “harmful and offensive to the gender and sexually diverse community,” the police service said in a release. 

The constable, a 12-year member of the service, was immediately placed on administrative leave and will remain on leave while an investigation takes place, police said. 

“The relationship we have with the gender and sexually diverse community is incredibly important to the Saskatoon Police Service,” police chief Troy Cooper said in the release. 

“I want to assure the public that we take these complaints seriously. We have acted swiftly to address the issue and a thorough investigation will occur.”

King said she appreciates how the situation was handled by the police service and said she especially commends the person who reported the social media posts. 

“The person that called out this activity and these posts is really very brave. And we need to be doing it more. We need to be calling out our family, our friends, our coworkers. We need to be calling out things on social media that are racist, that are homophobic, that are transphobic, that show people that oppression is okay.” 

The Saskatoon virtual Pride parade will take place on June 20 at noon on Facebook Live.