Q&A: Organizer talks planning Halifax Pride in light of rising discrimination, pulled funding
CBC
Halifax Pride kicks off next week and dozens of events are scheduled across the city, including the Pride parade on Saturday.
This week, Fiona Kerr, the organizer of Halifax Pride, sat down with Information Morning Nova Scotia host Portia Clark to discuss what's on the radar for Pride this year. Their conversation touched on the effects of rising anti-queer rhetoric, political involvement and what's coming for Halifax Pride in the future.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What can people expect from Halifax Pride this year, aside from the parade?
There's a ton of new events. I think we're doing 33 events this year, and about a third of them are new. We're hosting a 'gaylidh,' which is a gay ceilidh, at Neptune Theatre. There's new educational programming with the Wabanaki Two-Spirit Alliance. They're going to be hosting some programming on the festival site that's open to the public. So folks can come learn about the two-spirit identity and some of their Indigenous cultural practices.
You left the Halifax Pride organization and came back. What do you think of the health of the organization now, Fiona?
I think we're doing really great. Not to toot my own horn, but I've seen our organization go through a lot in the last 10 years and I think this is the best place we've ever been in. I think our board is really great and has done a lot of work over the last year to restabilize us. If anyone wants to join the board, there's a great foundation now. Our staff team is growing — things are really looking up.
Our premier, Tim Houston, skipped the parade last year and said the RCMP told him it could be a security concern for him. Other provincial leaders attended. Are you expecting Mr. Houston this year?
Not as far as I know. I will say the PC party did apply to be in the parade, but they missed our parade deadline. We filled out pretty quickly this year, so whether or not he intended to be there, I don't know. But they're on the waitlist with quite a few other groups who missed the deadline.
There's a waitlist?
Yeah. We usually get quite a few people who missed the deadline. We have a certain length for the parade, 2.5 kilometres. We know about how many entries, floats, people we can fit in those 2.5 kilometres. And, usually, we try to move queer groups up to the top of the waitlist because we do want to prioritize their presence. So there's quite a few in front of them, unfortunately.
This year we had more interest than we've ever had in the parade and unfortunately the size of our parade can't grow very much because the size of the streets of Halifax are not growing.
It's really great to see how much support people are showing. I think as things are shifting in the South very rapidly, more groups, people and companies are thinking about how they can show support.
Some companies like Home Depot, Nissan, Clorox, Google have pulled funding for Toronto Pride and that's led to a $900,000 shortfall. Is there anything like that happening with Halifax Pride?
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after an officer involved shooting at Danforth Go station early Saturday morning, said Toronto police.
Montreal officials will hold a ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre today.
The City of Regina's proposal to build a roadway through the McKell Wascana Conservation Park should be discarded, local conservationists say.
A holiday event that began in 2020 during the pandemic with three floats on pickup trucks has now become one of Kelowna’s big winter events, drawing thousands to the city’s downtown core.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.