Ottawa’s Pride parade facing boycotts over board’s anti-Israel stance

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, Ottawa’s mayor, one of the nation’s premier children’s hospitals, the University of Ottawa, civil servants and Jewish community groups are among those pulling out of the capital city’s annual Pride parade, as tensions over the organizing committee’s anti-Israel messaging threaten to undo festivities.

It is the latest Pride event to face boycotts and pushback for characterizing the ongoing Israel-Hamas war as human rights abuses against Palestinians. Last month, Fredericton Pride cancelled its two-week festival due to harassment board members received after the group expressed solidarity with Palestinians and named the Fredericton Palestine Solidarity Organization, an activist group, grand marshal in the city’s Pride parade.

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On Monday, the Liberal Party of Canada and University of Ottawa joined Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, CHEO (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario), The Ottawa Hospital and Germany’s embassy in Ottawa in pulling out of Capital Pride events this week.

“In light of recent decisions by the Capital Pride board, the Liberal Party has decided not to participate in Capital Pride events this year, and instead will host our own event to celebrate Ottawa’s 2SLGBTQI+ communities,” Liberal party spokesperson Peter Lund said in an email.

“The Liberal party has a proud history of standing up for 2SLGBTQI+ rights, and we will continue to be unwavering in our fight to build a more equal and inclusive Canada for everyone.”

Trudeau has participated in Capital Pride marches in the past. The Capital Pride parade, scheduled for Aug. 25, typically attracts more than 10,000 marchers, with representations from some 200 groups and organizations.

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Sutcliffe last week announced that he intends to sit out events organized by Capital Pride — though he will attend other pride activities — in response to a statement Capital Pride released earlier in August. While condemning “in the strongest possible terms” the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7,  the group also accused Israel of an “endless and brutal campaign in Gaza and mounting violence in the West Bank, where innocent Palestinians … are being slaughtered, dehumanized and dispossessed of their land in flagrant violation of international law.”

The organization said it was concerned with rising Islamophobia and antisemitism, but said Islamophobic sentiment is being fuelled by the “pink-washing of the war in Gaza and racist notions that all Palestinians are homophobic and transphobic.”

“By portraying itself as a protector of the rights of queer and trans people in the Middle East, Israel seeks to draw attention away from its abhorrent human rights abuses against Palestinians,” the organization said.

After meeting with Jewish groups, Sutcliffe said the statement caused “significant distress” for many in the Jewish community and has created an atmosphere where many now don’t feel welcome at Capital Pride events.

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The University of Ottawa said that Capital Pride’s “statements do not align with the University’s broader mission and values” and so the school “has made the difficult decision to withdraw from the 2024 Capital Pride Parade,” according to an email from university spokesman Jesse Robichaud.

“This decision does not change our enthusiasm and commitment toward celebrating Pride and supporting the LGBTQ2S+ community on our campuses and throughout our region,” Robichaud added.

CHEO and The Ottawa Hospital also followed Sutcliffe’s lead, revoking any official or formal participation in this year’s parade. “Inclusivity and supporting all communities we serve is very important to us as a hospital, as is the safety of any TOH staff/physician, and patient,” The Ottawa Hospital said in a statement over the weekend. “We feel it would not be responsible for us to send staff, physicians, their family and friends, as well as patients to this event.”

The German Embassy in Ottawa has also said it won’t support the “delegitimizing of Israel” nor the boycott, divestments and sanctions campaign that is deigned to isolate and punish Israel in support of Palestinians. Capital Pride has supported integrating a boycott list in its review of current and future sponsorship agreements.

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The Jewish Federation of Ottawa and its community partners also made the “difficult but necessary decision” to withdraw from this year’s Capital Pride parade, after a meeting with Capital Pride over what the Jewish group called Pride’s “antisemitic statement” failed to convinced the group to alter its position.

In the face of the growing fallout with previous boosters, Capital Pride said in a new statement Monday that it is committed to fostering “safe and inclusive spaces where everyone is welcomed.”

“As a community facing rising levels of hate-motivated crimes, we know all too well how hate erodes our cohesion and security,” the organization said on its Instagram page.

“Queer and trans people of all religions, including Jewish and Muslim folks, are an integral part of our local community. We reject any attempts to marginalize religious and cultural minority groups from the broader Pride movement.”

Public Service Pride Network, a volunteer group of federal civil servants, also said it won’t have a presence in this year’s parade but will focus instead on “inclusive, safe and people-centred events.”

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The controversy is a microcosm of the tensions over Israel’s war on Hamas that have spilled into the LGBT community. In June, Toronto’s Pride Parade, the country’s largest, was abruptly halted mid-route after protesters with the Coalition Against Pinkwashing, a coalition of queer and trans activists from Palestinian solidarity groups, staged a sit-in on Yonge Street after Pride Toronto refused to meet over demands they divest from companies with ties to Israel.

Anti-Israel activists have also disrupted Pride parades in New York City, Boston, Denver and Philadelphia.

In Edmonton, Jewish groups have called for an end to federal funding for the Pride Centre of Edmonton over its social media postings. Three weeks after 1,200 people were killed in a surprise raid carried out by Hamas and other terror organizations, the Pride centre’s Instagram page posted, “We at PCE stand against apartheid, genocide, colonization and state violence.”

Hamas, in its founding charter in 1988, calls for the destruction of Israel and is nakedly antisemitic.

With additional reporting by The Canadian Press and Ottawa Citizen

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