Canadian Queer History

On July 3, 2016 Black Lives Matter - Toronto took the opportunity as the honoured group in the Pride Parade to halt the parade in an effort to address anti-blackness within an already marginalized community. The chapter consulted with Black Queer Youth, an organization for LGBTQ youth, which had its stage moved farther away from the main crowd; queer Indigenous people who have also boycotted pride and its erasure; and Blackness Yes, the community organization that hosts Blockorama, Pride Toronto’s stage for People of Colour, which has also faced some of the largest budget cuts

The group released a list of demands, including a commitment to increase representation among Pride Toronto staff, and to prioritize the hiring of black transgender women and indigenous people. The group also viewed the shutdown as a moment to highlight how Toronto Pride and the Toronto police were attempting to erase the department's poor relationship with the communities.

Although met with mixed reception from both within the queer community and outside, this marked a collective outpouring of frustration and demands for equality and an end to racism from many queer indigenous and people of colour who were being marginalized within the queer community.