A Statement from the Pride Hamilton Board
HAMILTON, ONTARIO | July 24 2024
To the community, in light of recent times, we felt it was important that we make a statement.
On behalf of the Pride Hamilton Board, we would like to issue an apology for any harm done towards members of our community, and to those who feel that their voices have not been heard.
There was an email sent to the Pride Board from a local organization demanding the divestment of TD Bank as a sponsor of this year’s Pride Event. Moving forward, the Fund Development team will be taking a much closer look at our sponsorships for future events. However, being this close to this year’s Pride Event, we are unable to change any sponsors at this time.
Post-pandemic has changed the landscape of local businesses, resulting in increased reliance on corporate sponsorships. The Board has become increasingly more aware of the harm done by many of these corporations and are trying to re-strategize how to move forward without relying so heavily on these corporate sponsors.
We have made the decision that TD Bank will not be recognized at this year’s Pride Event. Going forward, their logo will not be on any promotional material for advertising or at the event day of.
Having a visible Pride in the community is crucial. Pride started as a protest - a protest taking up space and showing that we are able to exist as queer folks in the community, despite the constant marginalization and oppression we face. We have dedicated our efforts over the past year in planning a safe, responsible, and inclusive festival for the Hamilton queer community, regardless of identity. Our goal is for everyone in this queer community to feel welcomed and accepted. Division amongst groups within the queer community will only further destroy what voice and presence we as queer people have; we are so much stronger united. A divided community allows for governing bodies to encroach on our rights and freedoms.
There have been accusations made that there are sentiments of Anti-Palestinian and Islamophobia racism within Pride Hamilton, and we would like to state for the record that this Board will not condone any prejudice and there is no space for racism in this community. As an organization, Pride Hamilton will remain Apartheid-Free, Occupation-Free, and we will stand against genocide. A call was made for us to declare ourselves “Genocide-Free” as an organization; however, we feel as residents of Canada, we can’t call ourselves “Genocide-Free” when there is continuous genocide against our own Indigenous People.
We understand police presence at our Pride Event is a concern, but it is a legal requirement by the City of Hamilton to have police presence at outdoor events. We have gone through all of the SOP requirements of having an outdoor event and there is legally no way we can run this event without police presence. However, we will do everything in our power to minimize their visibility and interactions with attendees.
We understand that not everyone is going to see our actions as completely resolving the issues at this year’s Event. However, because of how close we are to the Event date, we are doing what we can within the remaining time we have. Moving forward, a plan is currently being created to better accommodate all of these concerns in Events beyond this year’s Pride.
Yours in Pride,
Pride Hamilton Board of Directors
