TORONTO - The head of Canada's largest Pride parade is petitioning Toronto officials to keep an annual grant as debate over police participation in the event continues.
Olivia Nuamah, the executive director of Pride Toronto, is expected to make a case Monday to a city committee weighing the fate of the roughly $260,000 subsidy to the event.
Before the meeting began, Toronto Mayor John Tory issued a statement expressing his support for the funding, saying both Pride Toronto and Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders have told him cutting the grant would not help resolve the controversy around the parade.
Earlier this year, a Toronto city councillor called for the grant to be revoked over Pride Toronto's decision to ban police floats, saying the event had become exclusionary.
The union representing Toronto police officers quickly echoed that call, saying it would be unacceptable for the city to sponsor an event that shuts out certain municipal employees.
In a statement released Sunday evening, Pride Toronto reiterated that police officers were welcome at the parade so long as they appeared as civilians rather than in an official capacity.
