City Councillor Diane Colley-Urquhart said Thursday she won’t march in the Calgary Pride Parade unless a decision to bar uniformed officers from participating is reversed.
Urquhart said she’s calling on Calgarians to “put pressure” on organizers following Wednesday’s announcement, which she claims “flies in the face of everything they stand for as a community.”
Mayor Naheed Nenshi has also expressed his disappointment, pointing to the ongoing efforts from Calgary police to work with diverse communities.
WATCH BELOW: Heated debate over Calgary Pride’s decision to exclude uniformed police from 2017 parade
“I know a lot of them are disappointed because they feel their hard work in working with LGBTQ communities is being denigrated by global trends,” he said. “And I think that’s really a shame.”
But opinion on Calgary council is divided, with Councillor Druh Farrell saying she’ll attend if invited. She told News Talk 770 she’s already “planning her crazy costume.”
“It’s an important day for Calgary and it’s certainly important to the LGBTQ community, that leaders in the community want to make their support — and being an ally — known.”
Urquhart calls the decision to ban uniformed officers a mistake and said organizers took their cue from Toronto, instead of deciding for themselves.
“My message to them,” she said, “is we’re not Toronto and we’ve had a long outstanding history with our police officers in Calgary working with diverse communities for many, many years.”
Calgary Pride said Wednesday it recognized Calgary has a different relationship with its police force than Toronto and that it made the decision after speaking with the Calgary Police Service and other organizations in Calgary’s LGBTQ community.
But Urquhart said if issues between police and some members of the LGBTQ community exist, “we need to talk about it.”
WATCH BELOW: Toronto police march in New York City Pride Parade in uniform
“For them to make these sweeping statements that indigenous people and new immigrants to Calgary are afraid of police is not really doing a service to our community,” she said.
Global News was not told by Calgary Pride that indigenous or newcomers to Canada had voiced any fears over their interactions with police. On Wednesday, they said they were not willing to speak on their behalf.
She said she’ll boycott the parade unless police uniforms are allowed.
Farrell told News Talk 770 that Pride remains important and encourages Calgarians to respect their decision.
“It’s important that we celebrate the fact that we can express ourselves.”
News Talk 770 has asked Calgary Pride to respond to Urquhart’s comments. This article will be updated when we receive a response.