The group – a Canadian chapter of the a larger USA movement active in Toronto since late 2014 – caused a stir on Sunday when some of its members who were marching in the city’s Pride Parade staged a sit-in – bringing the event to a halt for about half an hour.
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However the following day, the Pride Toronto executive said nothing was agreed upon and that the signing was done only to get the parade moving again.
They also demanded no police floats be allowed in the parade, in recognition of the fact that issues such as carding and the targeting of black young people and young queers are far from being resolved.
“We as a community know this is historically accurate of Pride, ” Diverlus said. “There are promises made to the black community, commitments and those commitments are quickly recanted”.
“I want to make it very clear to Mayor Tory that we are not interested in politicking back and forth with him, ” Diverlus said.
“We are not interested in his sound bites”, he said.
Co-founder Janaya Khan elaborated, noting Tory’s letter showed he had inappropriately taken a side.
Fellow BLM-TO co-founder Alexandra Williams said Chantelois has waffled in his solidarity with her group many times and “has actively tried to push us out by flip-flopping on his stand with us”.
“What the mayor has done is clearly stated he is in cahoots with the police”. Black Lives Matter said earlier in the day that Tory should “stay in his lane” when it comes to their ongoing beef with Pride organizers.
Tory maintained he will continue to reach out.
“I think we’re all about inclusivity in the City of Toronto, (and) that the best way to go about promoting and encouraging and producing inclusivity was not to start with excluding people”, he said.
Activists from Black Lives Matter Toronto say they feel betrayed by Pride Toronto executive director Mathiew Chantelois for backtracking on demands he signed and agreed to when the group staged a sit-in that halted the Pride parade for almost 30 minutes over the weekend.
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“Lucas, who helped organize the parade’s honoured groups and global grand marshals, announced their resignation on Facebook Thursday night: “…in solidarity with BlackLivesMatter (sic) and apologise profusely for the mistreatment, thoughtless and complete disregard which came along with being honoured”.
