There will be an independent investigation into Montreal Pride parade debacle, city says
CBC
The city of Montreal will be holding an independent investigation into the shocking last-minute cancellation of the city's annual Pride parade.
Montreal mayor Valérie Plante, speaking with the organizers of the event on Monday, requested their cooperation in the inquiry. Montreal Pride's leadership agreed.
According to a statement released by the mayor's office, the investigation hopes to "re-establish the trust of the community, event partners and the general population," after the sudden news that the parade wouldn't be going ahead.
The event was cancelled on Sunday morning, mere hours before it was set to begin. The city, which had invested over $600,000 in the event, had not been informed prior to the decision.
Organizers initially said that they were missing too many volunteers to hold the event safely.
But Simon Gamache, Montreal Pride's executive director, later said they had failed to hire the required security staff. About 100 people were either never hired or assigned to security for the parade route.
Mayor Plante said that if the city had been aware of the staffing shortage, it would have put in the "necessary effort" to make sure the event went ahead.
Quebec's Ministry of Tourism has also reached out to the organizers about what happened, a spokesperson told Radio-Canada.
The ministry granted $1.1 million to Pride Montreal for the entirety of this year's activities. The government said the money was not allocated by event, so it doesn't know how much of that went towards the parade that didn't happen.
Like the city of Montreal, the province said it was not informed of any problems and "learned of the cancellation of the parade in the media Sunday morning."
Major sponsors, including TD Bank, Loto-Québec and Montreal's public transit network (STM) said they would continue to support the event in future years.
Speaking to Radio-Canada about the possibility of a rescheduled parade, Gamache said he questioned the need, as spontaneous marches were organized across the city in the wake of the cancellation.
He also said he has not considered resigning from his post.
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