{"id":175276,"date":"2026-08-20T07:23:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/175276\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T07:23:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T07:23:06","slug":"edmonton-pride-organizers-defend-police-presence-after-backlash-from-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/175276\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Pride organizers defend police presence after backlash from advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">EDMONTON \u2014 Organizers of Edmonton&#8217;s Pride parade say they stand by their decision to have police presence at this weekend&#8217;s procession recognizing the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The Edmonton PrideFest Association announced plans for additional security and police presence this week after attacks at Lapu Lapu Day events in Vancouver and at Pride celebrations in Berlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In response, multiple groups, including the non-profit RaricaNow, said they would cut ties with the festival over the presence of police, among other issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The parade, one of the biggest Pride events on the Prairies, returned last year after similar disagreements over law enforcement involvement and reports that marginalized groups were being sidelined.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Festival producer Trevor Watson says police involvement is a reasonable precaution to protect attendees and ensure they return home safely after Saturday&#8217;s parade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">RaricaNow founder Adebayo Chris Katiiti says police have historically mistreated LGBTQ+ and racialized communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">&#8220;We cannot honour Pride while ignoring its history and the voices that made it possible,&#8221; Katiiti said in a video on social media. &#8220;We cannot claim safety while welcoming the same systems that have harmed our communities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Edmonton police apologized in 2019 for officers&#8217; mistreatment of the LGBTQ+ community, noting the brutal 1981 raid of the Pisces Health Spa, a former downtown bathhouse frequented by gay men.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Aaron Sousa, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 Organizers of Edmonton&#8217;s Pride parade say they stand by their decision to have police presence at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[52,830,55640,7467,23792,989],"class_list":["post-175276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-police","tag-police-involvement","tag-police-presence","tag-pride-parade","tag-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}