I presented my resignation to the PT board and I now work at Cineplex Media.
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This resignation comes after a controversial Black Lives Matter protest that briefly halted this year’s Pride Parade while protestors made several demands.
“I decided it was time for me to move on and I wish Pride the best in the future”, he said. These included more funding for black and minority ethnic pride-related events, and – more controversially – a ban on police floats at future Pride festivals.
Hours after Pride Toronto first announced the resignation of executive director Mathieu Chantelois, new details have come to light.
Chantelois, who was appointed executive director in January 2015, confirmed the news yesterday on his own social media, saying on Facebook: ‘Yep, it’s true: I presented my resignation to the board of Pride Toronto and I now work at Cineplex Media.
Pride Toronto confirmed Chantelois’ resignation in a terse statement posted on Facebook.
Chantelois had previously said that some of the issues raised by Black Lives Matter-Toronto would be discussed during the town halls.
Pride Toronto’s Board of Directors are now looking for a replacement and will provide “strategic direction and support to the organization until the search process is completed”, the organization said in the Facebook post.
Chantelois later indicated that just because he signed the group’s demands, it was not necessarily written in stone, saying he did what needed to be done in order to keep the parade moving.
“Frankly, Black Lives Matter is not going to tell us that there is no more floats anymore in the parade”.
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However, in its public statement, Pride Toronto claims that a copy of the letter was shared with Chantelois at the beginning of its investigation. “If ur not committed to making pride accessible & safe 4 black queer/trans people & communities”, he wrote on Twitter, “then make space for someone who is #bai”.
