Edmonton Pride parade is back — but some are concerned disagreements remain unresolved

Emily Williams · CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

After a seven-year hiatus, Edmonton's pridefulness parade volition beryllium backmost successful Edmonton this August.

Part of a 3 time festival, the parade volition tally connected August 23 downtown. While it's invited quality for some, concerns astir the issues that led to the cancellation of the erstwhile parade persist.

The parade was cancelled successful 2019 aft protests and disagreements implicit the engagement of instrumentality enforcement. Some advocates said marginalized groups were being sidelined.

That enactment that utilized to signifier the parade — the Edmonton Pride Festival Society —  has since dissolved. This year's festivities volition beryllium organized by Edmonton PrideFest Association who started hosting pridefulness events successful Churchill Square successful 2022.

Megan Normandeau, a spokesperson for Edmonton PrideFest said it volition beryllium a caller mentation of the parade that volition stress collaboration.

"After immoderate consultation with different groups successful the city, it conscionable felt similar the close clip to bring backmost the Pride parade," she said.

"We truly wanted to marque definite that we gave the accidental for different organizations to travel to the table. And truthful we're truly excited to determination guardant with an lawsuit that considers those perspectives."

Normandeau said immoderate enactment tin use to enactment successful the parade.

Rob Browatzke, co-owner of Evolution cheery bars successful Edmonton, said galore radical successful the assemblage person missed the parade. 

And portion immoderate mightiness retrieve the floats and flags moving down Whyte Avenue, Browatzke remembers the parade was a downtown matter from 1999 to 2014.

"It was a precise large woody for our assemblage to beryllium marching down Jasper Ave. successful the aboriginal 2000s, ending astatine Churchill Square," Browatzke said.

"I emotion having the festival itself backmost successful the bosom of the city."

RaricaNow — an enactment advocating for 2SLGBTQ+ refugees and newcomers successful Canada — was 1 of the groups that made demands calling for changes to the erstwhile iteration of the festival.

Adebayo Katiiti, CEO of RaricaNow, said helium was amazed to perceive the parade was coming backmost — and would've liked to spot much consultation.

"I deliberation determination needed to beryllium intentional assemblage consultations and engagement earlier folks coming to that decision, considering the erstwhile harm that was caused by the Pride festival to the queer, BIPOC and trans assemblage members," Katiiti said. 

Katiiti said it's important Pride lifts up the voices of those astir marginalized and astir astatine risk. 

"As overmuch arsenic galore radical privation to observe — we person travel a agelong mode and yes, determination is truthful overmuch we person attained and they merit a spotlight — but we person a agelong mode to go."

Browatzke said galore questions felt unanswered aft the mode the past parade ended — and astatine a assemblage engagement league held by the Edmonton PrideFest last year, galore of those questions came up again.

Those questions were astir constabulary and subject involvement, the relation of firm sponsorship, the inclusion of trans and sex nonconforming Albertans, and however to centre Black and Indigenous two-spirit voices successful the festival.

"Whether oregon not each of those questions person been answered successful regards to this year's parade, I don't know."

Either way, Browatzke said that bringing the parade backmost had to commencement somewhere.

"I deliberation everybody benignant of agrees that immoderate benignant of parade oregon march is needed," helium said.

"It's an important portion of Pride historically. It's surely an important portion of Pride present fixed the governmental clime that we are facing."