Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a stop Vancouver’s Pride celebration Sunday after meeting with B.C. Premier David Eby and officials from the Vancouver port.
He marched along with the Pride Parade for about a kilometre.
Carney says the parade represents the “essence of Canada,” celebrating diversity in a “very positive way.”
“It’s Pride, it’s a celebration, it’s what is great about our country,” Carney said.
“I’m just thrilled to be part of it.”
Carney was greeted by loud cheers from parade-goers lining the sidewalks along the route, and he zigzagged across the street several times to meet and greet supporters as his security detail followed closely.
Event organizers said it expected 100,000 people to take part in this year’s event, which includes the annual Pride Parade and celebration.
The Vancouver Police Department says it has boosted security around the event.
“We will have extra officers deployed along the parade route to assist with traffic control and respond to any issues that arise,” Const. Tania Visintin told 1130 NewsRadio.
This year’s parade comes at a time of uncertainty for the Vancouver Pride Society, which is seeing a drop in sponsors compared with previous years.
Morgane Oger, secretary of the board, told 1130 NewsRadio that sponsors last year injected about $900,000 into the event.
This year, it has fallen to about $500,000.
“Vancouver Pride Society is a non-profit society that’s bound by the realities of business, like we have to have insurance, we have to have permits to operate, we have to rely on grants to run an event,” Oger said.
“If we are only able to land half as much money, we’ll have a budget that’s half as big, but if the city costs are not flexible in that, if they don’t go down along with our spend, then we just will find ourselves unable to do the work. “
Oger says it isn’t clear why sponsorships have dropped so sharply, but it could be due to a number of factors.
One possibility is the growing anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) sentiment in the U.S., which could also be spreading to Canada, she says.
“There have been reports that U.S. government contractors are under pressure not to be involved with equity-related activities or sponsoring,” she said.
Last year, then-PM Justin Trudeau also made an appearance at the event, shaking hands and taking selfies with people in the crowd.
— With files from David Nadalini.