Vancouver Police To March In Pride Parade

BRINGING YOUR VOICE TO VANCOUVER PRIDE: More than three months ago you were among the nearly 3,000 individuals who signed a petition calling for the Vancouver Pride Society to include the Vancouver City Police and RCMP in this year's Pride Parade. Your petition was in response to an earlier petition calling for the exclusion of all police presence in the parade and other Pride events. On April 5 several originators and active supporters of your petition met with representatives of the Pride Society board and staff to further present the views expressed in your petition. At that meeting we shared our view that Vancouver is a beautifully diverse and multicultural community, uniquely positioned to inspire other cities around the globe as to what excellence in community and celebration of diversity looks like when we all come together. We also expressed our collective view that racism, homophobia. transphobia, religious bigotry, ageism, and sexism are 100 percent unacceptable and have no place in our community. THE VANCOUVER PRIDE DECISION: This Thursday, May 18, the Vancouver Pride Society announced that, following months of community consultations and engagement, that Vancouver City Police and the RCMP will participate in this year’s Pride Parade, while adhering to a number of agreed-upon guidelines, which are: 1. Vancouver police officers and volunteers who walk in the Pride Parade will do so as part of the City of Vancouver entry, which also includes staff and officials from the City, Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver Park Board, VFRS and BCEHST. All of these departments will walk in the Parade mixed together, rather than in specific groups or blocks in the entry; 
 2. The vast majority of police representatives will walk in t-shirts,while a small portion - about 20 per cent of the contingent, including those officers who are visible in the community - will walk in uniform. All other uniformed City staff walking in the Parade will follow the same guidelines as police;
 3. By request, no sirens be used in the Parade by any participating organizations,including but not limited to police organizations, Vancouver Fire & Rescue, BC Ambulance Service, and Corrections Canada;
 4. There will be no marked police or law enforcement vehicles in the 2017 Pride Parade. The RCMP will have their Diversity Bus, VPD will have an unmarked vehicle, and Correctional Services of Canada will have a white van with a logo on the door; 
 5. Both organizations have agreed to participate in a series of listening circles - organized and facilitated by VPS - both before and after Pride, where community members can share their stories with police in a supportive and accessible space, so that we might learn more about each other and find a path to breaking down barriers to trust.
 In making the announcement the Pride Society noted that “The steps that the VPD and the RCMP have agreed to take in response to community concerns must be the beginning of an inclusive, ongoing process to building new relationships and a new way forward.” As originators and supporters of your petition, we have offered our congratulations to the directors and staff of the Vancouver Pride Society. They’ve listened to many voices in the LGBT community — often bitterly contradictory voices — and they have arrived at a reasonable compromise that fairly represents the community. We stand with them! MEDIA COVERAGE: There has been extensive media coverage of this announcement, and can find those stories online at the websites for The Georgia Straight, Daily Xtra, The Vancouver Sun, the CBC, and others. SUPPORTING VANCOUVER PRIDE: We encourage you to express your own support for the Vancouver Pride Society in conducting extensive community consultations and reaching this compromise. You can reach them at office@vancouverpride.ca. JOIN THE VANCOUVER PRIDE LEGACY GROUP ON FACEBOOK: As all sectors of the community contemplate the latest developments and express their own views and responses, we will continue to monitor the situation and will report any major developments back to you. A new organization, the Vancouver Pride Legacy Group, has been created to encourage ongoing dialogue. We invite you to join our Facebook Group. Links to the information cited above can be found at "Vancouver Pride Legacy Group" on Facebook at www.facebook.com/groups/pridelegacy/ We hope to see you on Facebook. Join the conversation! THANK YOU: Without the support of close to 3,000 signatories to your petition this issue could have had a different outcome. Congratulations on stepping up and speaking out. Thanks to you all! Yours, Petition Authors & Supporters Jerry Andersen (Velvet Steele) Gordon Hardy Judi Lewinson (Community Liaison) Kevin Dale McKeown Anthony Stonechild