Q&A: Organizer talks planning Halifax Pride in light of rising discrimination, pulled funding

Olivia Piercey · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 13, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Halifax Pride kicks disconnected adjacent week and dozens of events are scheduled crossed the city, including the Pride parade connected Saturday.

This week, Fiona Kerr, the organizer of Halifax Pride, sat down with Information Morning Nova Scotia host Portia Clark to sermon what's connected the radar for Pride this year. Their speech touched connected the effects of rising anti-queer rhetoric, governmental involvement and what's coming for Halifax Pride successful the future. 

The pursuing interrogation has been edited for clarity and length.

What tin radical expect from Halifax Pride this year, speech from the parade? 

There's a ton of caller events. I deliberation we're doing 33 events this year, and astir a 3rd of them are new. We're hosting a 'gaylidh,' which is simply a cheery ceilidh, astatine Neptune Theatre. There's caller acquisition programming with the Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance. They're going to beryllium hosting immoderate programming connected the festival tract that's unfastened to the public. So folks tin travel larn astir the two-spirit individuality and immoderate of their Indigenous taste practices.

You near the Halifax Pride enactment and came back. What bash you deliberation of the wellness of the enactment now, Fiona?

I deliberation we're doing truly great. Not to toot my ain horn, but I've seen our enactment spell done a batch successful the past 10 years and I deliberation this is the champion spot we've ever been in. I deliberation our committee is truly large and has done a batch of enactment implicit the past twelvemonth to restabilize us. If anyone wants to articulation the board, there's a large instauration now. Our unit squad is increasing —  things are truly looking up.

Our premier, Tim Houston, skipped the parade past year and said the RCMP told him it could beryllium a information interest for him. Other provincial leaders attended. Are you expecting Mr. Houston this year?

Not arsenic acold arsenic I know. I volition accidental the PC enactment did use to beryllium successful the parade, but they missed our parade deadline. We filled retired beauteous rapidly this year, truthful whether oregon not helium intended to beryllium there, I don't know. But they're connected the waitlist with rather a fewer different groups who missed the deadline.

There's a waitlist?

Yeah. We usually get rather a fewer radical who missed the deadline. We person a definite magnitude for the parade, 2.5 kilometres. We cognize astir however galore entries, floats, radical we tin acceptable successful those 2.5 kilometres. And, usually, we effort to determination queer groups up to the apical of the waitlist due to the fact that we bash privation to prioritize their presence. So there's rather a fewer successful beforehand of them, unfortunately.

This twelvemonth we had much involvement than we've ever had successful the parade and unluckily the size of our parade can't turn precise overmuch due to the fact that the size of the streets of Halifax are not growing. 

It's truly large to spot however overmuch enactment radical are showing. I deliberation arsenic things are shifting successful the South precise rapidly, much groups, people and companies are reasoning astir however they tin amusement support.

Some companies similar Home Depot, Nissan, Clorox, Google person pulled backing for Toronto Pride and that's led to a $900,000 shortfall. Is determination thing similar that happening with Halifax Pride?

We mislaid 2 longtime sponsors this year. They didn't springiness america an explicit reason, but we made the presumption due to the fact that they're some American-owned. I won't sanction them due to the fact that they didn't enactment their crushed successful writing. But I deliberation we tin work the country astatine this point. It wasn't a immense impact. Most of our sponsorships are not the aforesaid magnitude of wealth that immoderate bigger Prides are bringing in. In full it was astir $12,000 [lost].

Are you disquieted different American-owned sponsors volition bash the same?

It's decidedly a speech we've been having, but it truly hasn't travel to fruition successful the mode we were disquieted about. We don't bash concern with a batch of companies who enactment implicit the border. Most of our sponsors are section oregon regional. A batch of them are tiny businesses.

We person seen posts connected societal media from agrarian Pride organizers reminding radical however to enactment harmless during Pride due to the fact that anti-queer hatred is connected the rise. Is information a interest for Pride events present successful Halifax? 

I deliberation it's a interest for everybody. We're precise fortunate present successful Halifax that it is simply a comparatively harmless place. Our events are usually safe. We haven't encountered a batch of anti-queer rhetoric astir our events. But it's thing that's connected everyone's minds, with anti-queer hatred rising successful the South and successful bigger cities here. It's thing everyone is talking about, but I wouldn't accidental it's a peculiarly ample interest for us.

The national authorities announced $1.5 cardinal for a assemblage information money to assistance enactment 2SLGBTQ+ organizations specified arsenic Halifax Pride. How are you utilizing that money?

We chiefly usage it towards the accrued costs of our existing information measures, truthful we person immoderate accrued security. We've accrued our first-aid beingness astatine a batch of our events. And, the outgo of everything is going up. So the backing is truly large assistance with things similar postulation power for our parade. It's chiefly covering the outgo of inflation.

Halifax Pride is going to big Canada Pride, the nationalist event, successful 2027.  What's that looking like?

It's going to beryllium amazing. We bid connected that lawsuit past twelvemonth aft Vancouver hosted it, and we're conscionable truly excited to spot it travel to the East Coast. It's ne'er been farther eastbound than Montreal. We've got, tentatively, 50 events planned for it. So radical volition spot immoderate of our festival-standard events and tons of caller partnerships. Lots of events are for tourists due to the fact that we privation to bring radical here. We privation radical to travel spot Pride connected the East Coast. So determination volition beryllium thing for everybody.

How are you reflecting connected the tone and intent of pridefulness this year? 

I don't deliberation pridefulness has 1 azygous purpose. I deliberation we each benignant of conflict narrowing it down to 1 thing. Because erstwhile we constrictive it down to 'just a party,' 'just a protest' oregon 'just educational,' we're lone serving 1 faction of our community. Pride is precise multifaceted. But it's rooted successful governmental protestation and we privation everyone to retrieve that. I deliberation creating queer spaces, wherever you are, is extremist nary substance what. Our metropolis is gaining much queer spaces, much queer businesses. Creating abstraction for queer radical is what is astir important.