Vancouver police said the department was dismayed by the Vancouver Pride Society’s decision this week to ban uniformed officers from its annual parade.
“We are very disappointed by the decision made by the Vancouver Pride Society to ban VPD members in uniform and in VPD T-shirts from the 2018 Pride Parade,” spokesperson Const. Jason Doucette said in an email.
“Our members have proudly walked in the parade alongside the community for 21 consecutive years,” he said.
Doucette added that the department was not consulted or advised of the decision, and heard about the ban through the media.
Society executive director Andrea Arnot said this week that non-uniformed officers will still be permitted, and credited Black Lives Matter chapters for initiating the conversations that led to the decision. Furthermore, during community consultations, people from several marginalized groups frequently spoke up about not wanting police at Vancouver’s Pride Parade.
“We engaged in a fairly extensive community consultation after our 2016 season, and police participation was one of the topics that [came] up often... we heard from queer people of colour, the trans community... and Indigenous people, who felt the same kinds of things Black Lives Matter was talking about in the media, so we took that information in and talked to many people on all sides of the issue,” she said.
Officers were permitted to march in this year’s parade, resulting in some groups, such as Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ refugee support organization Rainbow Refugee, boycotting the event.
“We acknowledge that there are some people in the LGBTQ2S+ community who do not want to see us walking in uniform,” Doucette said. “We have taken many steps to reconcile with this community and continue to work on an ongoing basis to build trust.”
Doucette pointed to initiatives such as the appointment a full-time liaison officer dedicated to working closely with the community and implementing the Safe Place program.
“However, we recognize that our work is not done and we will continue with our listening and outreach efforts to build on our existing trust and relationships with Vancouver’s LGBTQ2S+ community,” he said.
Rainbow Refugee spokesperson Chris Morrissey is pleased that uniformed officers won't be marching this year.
“We support the decision that they [the Vancouver Pride Society] have made," she says. "And we certainly hope that the Vancouver Police respect that decision and continue to march, but without the uniforms.”
Arnot said the VPS’ ban on uniformed police officers is because it wants everyone in the LGBTQ+ community to feel safe attending the parade, and reiterated that non-uniformed officers are still welcome to participate in the event.
The decision was made at a VPS meeting in September and was not announced publicly. However, Derek Bedry, a reporter for online publication Xtra, broke the news after it was announced at the VPS’s annual general meeting on Nov. 25, which he attended.
With files from Tessa Vikander/Westender.
