Toronto’s 2024 Pride Parade Ended Early, Cancelled After Protests

“We made the decision to cancel the remainder of the parade out of our commitment to ensuring public safety,” Pride Toronto said after demonstrators brought the parade to a stop at Yonge Street and Wellesley Street…

The annual Toronto Pride Parade took over the city on Sunday afternoon marking the end of a month’s worth of events celebrating the city’s vibrant 2SLGBTQI+ community, until the procession — billed as Canada’s largest — was suddenly stopped mid-route by a protest, and then was officially cancelled.

This year’s parade theme was “Be,” which Pride Toronto called “a resounding statement that says, ‘We are here and always will be.’ ”

The 2024 parade began at Bloor Street and Church Street with more than 250 groups marching together along Yonge Street down to Nathan Phillips Square. About 30 demonstrators, calling themselves the Coalition Against Pinkwashing, held banners and chanted on Yonge Street, just south of Wellesley Street, three and a half hours after the parade’s 2:00pm start. Floats and marchers making their way south toward the parade’s finish at Nathan Phillips Square were stranded behind the protesters, who chanted “Free Palestine” and “Pride is a protest” while holding signs that read: “Pride partners with genocide” and “Stop pinkwashing.”

Toronto Police posted on social media that a demonstration during the parade had caused a disruption, and that the parade was “paused temporarily.” Then, 45 minutes after the protest began, Pride Toronto announced the remainder of the parade was cancelled.

“Today, we made the decision to cancel the remainder of the Pride Parade out of our commitment to ensuring public safety. We deeply respect and uphold everyone’s right to peacefully protest, our foremost priority is the well-being of all participants and spectators,” said an official statement released to social media by Pride Toronto. “We recognize the Pride Parade as a highly anticipated event that many organizations and individuals eagerly prepare for. We empathize with those who were looking forward to participating and regret any inconvenience caused by the decision.”

Toronto police gathered further down the parade route but did not take any action with the protesters, who left Yonge Street about two hours after they shut it down and marched west along Wellesley Street on the sidewalk. Police said no arrests were made in connection with the demonstration. 

According to a pamphlet handed out by the Coalition Against Pinkwashing, the protesters had six demands, among them the divestment from all corporations “actively involved in violently exploiting native people” on Turtle Island and in Sudan, Palestine and the Congo.

Of course, this is not the first time that Toronto’s Pride Parade has come to a halt in recent years. In 2016, a Black Lives Matter group brought the parade to a standstill on July 3 when it stopped its float with a protest that called on Pride to answer for its “anti-blackness.” The parade was halted for more than 30 minutes until Pride leaders signed the list of demands on the spot.

Unlike 2016, this year the demands by the Coalition Against Pinkwashing went unsigned. According to the Toronto Star, a protester named Faisal Samir said Pride Toronto offered a meeting to “think about” the demands.

After the Pride Parade was cancelled celebrations, balloons, confetti, bubbles, and bass-heavy music continued on Church Street, where vendors lined the pavement, restaurants overflowed and jam-packed beer gardens with DJs continued to play music as crowds danced away. Official celebrations were also taking place at Nathan Philips Square with a variety of legendary performers.