Pride festivals are seeking $3 million annually from Ottawa to fill a funding gap left by corporations pulling back funding amid a backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“We are seeing corporate sponsors pull back their investment into Pride. This can be for a multitude of reasons — DEI pullbacks, the tariffs,” said Joseph Hoang, a director with Vancouver Pride Society.
“They are not coming to the table at the level that they used to be. This is why we are asking the federal government for this new funding.”
Hoang spoke Tuesday on Parliament Hill, joined by other executives who are seeking $9 million over three years to help 200 festivals maintain their operations. They are asking for funding to pay artists and logistics costs, separate from rising security expenditures.
Their request is separate from the $1.5 million Ottawa has already allocated for security costs, which groups have previously said is not enough to deal with an onslaught of violent threats they tie to far-right extremism.
Leaders from across the country argue Pride parades and other programming at festivals celebrating 2SLGBTQ+ people help to promote inclusion and boost tourism revenues.
Last September, the Manitoba Pride Alliance said Steinbach Pride had to cancel its festival “due to credible safety threats connected to far-right extremism” in a conservative region of that province. Fierté Canada Pride, an umbrella group for festivals, said at the time that organizers need more security funding as they are “hoping that we don’t get shot.”
On Tuesday, the head of Ottawa’s festival said her team cannot limit the growing number of attendees at festival events, but still must protect the public from “very real concerns” after tragedies, like last year’s Lapu Lapu Day event in Vancouver where a vehicle plowed down a crowded street and killed 11 people.
“We’re dealing with new guidelines around heavy vehicle mitigation in public streets, so making sure that we’ve got the correct infrastructure to dissuade and disallow any vehicles from entering highly dense, populated areas,” said Callie Metler, executive director of Fierté Capital Pride.
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“This is really just allowing us to focus on making sure we can continue to welcome a growing audience, while not sacrificing things like paying artists,” she said.
Organizers for Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver festivals say together they generate $1.3 billion in economic activity each year, and they estimate smaller festivals create $700 million in GDP.
Julie DeMarchi, who chairs Timmins Pride in northern Ontario, says these events are crucial for maintaining inclusion in smaller communities. She said groups like hers often provide social services outside of festival season that are otherwise lacking.
“Prides are especially important to help counter that hate in the world, and really bring people together and talk about love, belonging, caring for community and taking care of each other,” she said. “We often see that that space is the first space that somebody ever feels safe in — that they can be themselves and identify as themselves.”
Pride festivals are facing more scrutiny in recent years amid organizational issues and parades being halted due to protests and logistical disputes.
Fierté Capital Pride cancelled its Ottawa parade last year after it was halted by a pro-Palestine group.
In 2022, Montreal Pride made a last-minute cancellation to its parade, with blame exchanged between organizers, police and volunteers.
A decade ago, the Toronto Pride parade was halted for a Black Lives Matter protest but it resumed when organizers pledged to exclude police from the march.
Kojo Modeste, the executive director of Pride Toronto, did not outline how organizers are planning to prevent such problems during the festivals for which they are seeking federal funds.
“Pride will always be political. However, we create a platform for the 2SLGBTQ+ community that no other organizations do,” Modeste said, adding that the festival brings in half the annual revenue for some businesses in the city’s Church St. district.
