Pro-Palestinian protestors have stepped up their disruption tactics, this time blocking Toronto’s Pride Parade from continuing its journey down Young Street. A group known as the Coalition Against Pinkwashing chanted “no pride in apartheid” and claimed that Pride Toronto, the organization behind the annual Toronto pride festivities, partners with companies and organizations that are “complicit in genocide.” The pro-Palestine movement is now grasping at straws, looking for any thread of a connection to Israel. This time, they decided to block a traditionally marginalized minority group from celebrating their hard-earned rights. The Toronto Police must take a harder stance against these protestors to ensure they don’t disrupt public life.
One of the banner’s carried by the protestors featured corporate logos of companies that they claim are “complicit” in Israel’s ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, including: Amazon, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. All these companies, they claim, hold investments or own assets in Israel. The Coalition Against Pinkwashing’s primary demand was that Pride Toronto “divest” from corporations “involved in violently exploiting native people,” most relevantly those that are involved in the “exploitation” of Palestinian people.
Their logic hangs by a thread. According to them, because Pride Toronto accepts donations from these companies, they hold some responsibility for the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Is Pride Toronto expected to carefully vet the financial holdings of every single one of their sponsors? According to their own financial statements, in 2023, Pride Toronto received over 4.7 million dollars of its total budget of 7.6 million dollars from corporate sponsorships. That is approximately 61 percent of its total funding. Do these protestors expect Pride Toronto to forfeit over 60 percent of its revenue because of a long financial trail that eventually leads to Israel?
One protestor reportedly said, “we’re here to draw attention to the cause.” Enough attention has been drawn to “the cause.” As the Executive Director of Pride Toronto said, this was “not the time and place for it.” These protestors need to allow other traditionally marginalized groups to bring attention to their own causes. By hijacking the pride parade, and forcing its cancelation, these demonstrators are saying that “our cause is more important than your cause.”
Moves like these go beyond the purview of free speech. These protestors are now fragrantly violating the law and preventing Torontonians from going about their daily lives.
Festival season is ramping up in Toronto. There’s Caribana, the T.D. Salsa Fest and the CNE just to name a few. All these events have corporate sponsorships similar to those of pride. Can Torontonians expect their beloved summer celebrations to be continuously interrupted by these protestors because of a thin connection to the ongoing conflict in Gaza?
To avoid further disruptions, the Toronto Police must take a harder stance against these protestors. They need to know that there are consequences for their actions, of which they have so far faced few. According to a spokesperson, Toronto Police didn’t intervene at Pride because of a request by Pride Toronto officials. If another incident like the one on Sunday happens again, police must intervene despite the wishes of festival organizers. Like a misbehaving child, if these protestors think that there are no repercussions for their actions, they will continue to disregard authority.