Vancouver Pride Society says parade will happen next month, despite financial challenges
Vancouver's Pride parade will go ahead as planned next month despite significant financial challenges.
Organizers argue the city could be doing more to support what is one of its biggest annual events, often attracting crowds in the range of 100,000.
'The City of Vancouver gives a permit and the permit fee includes policing – and that number is going up,' Vancouver Pride Society secretary Morgane Oger told CTV News on Thursday.
'It's very expensive to be able to be allowed to run a Pride event. Security and co-ordination is hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's really getting expensive.'
Oger says corporate sponsorship has dropped, resulting in a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial support to help the event go ahead.
'We've seen a drop of roughly 50 per cent of corporate sponsorship. It's been related to the increasing of polarization in politics, I think,' Oger said, referencing events in the U.S. and other provinces, while also acknowledging the economic challenges many businesses are facing right now.
'We are entering a phase that's a little harder, right? Businesses are not thinking about largesse right now. They're thinking about just getting through the year.'
Oger wants the city to do more to support the event, saying Vancouver Pride has been denied some City of Vancouver grants.
Vancouver city Coun. Peter Meiszner disputes that there's been a drop off of city funding, but says he is working with event organizers to help them apply for a cultural grant.
'I'm part of the (2SLGBTQ+) community,' Meiszner told CTV News in an interview on Thursday.
'It's really important to me and also what the parade and festival stand for in terms of equity and diversity in our city.'
This year, the parade will travel east to west, finishing near Davie village.
It comes after criticism over the previous west to east route, which meant the party wasn't as close to the West End.
'There was feedback in the community that it was moving too far away from places that were core to our identities,' Oger said, referencing the West End's history at the city's first large-scale LGBTQ+ neighbourhood.
Given Pride's challenges, the society plans to hold a series of roundtables and town halls in the fall, with the goal of creating a sustainable future for the organization.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
8 minutes ago
- CTV News
Tentative deal reached for Windsor hotel workers
Workers strike in front of Windsor's Best Western Plus hotel on Riverside Drive West in Windsor, Ont. on June 3, 2025. (Michelle Maluske/CTV News Windsor) A tentative deal has been reached for Windsor workers at the Best Western Plus Waterfront hotel. Unifor local 195 members have been on strike since June 1. President Emile Nabbout told AM800 News a ratification vote will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at the union hall. Approximately 40 people, who work in guest services, housekeeping, and maintenance. CTV News has reached out to Ironwood the management company that operates the hotel on Riverside Drive.
CTV News
8 minutes ago
- CTV News
Hydro-Quebec proposes 4.8% rate hike for businesses, 3% for residents
Hydro-Quebec is proposing annual rate increases of three per cent for residential consumers and 4.8 per cent for commercial and industrial customers over the next three years. The Crown corporation presented its rate requests for 2026, 2027, and 2028 on Thursday, which must be approved by Quebec's energy board, the Régie de l'énergie. For the residential sector, the proposed increase would raise the average electricity bill by approximately $2.40 per month for an apartment and $6.70 for an average-sized house. Hydro-Quebec's request is part of François Legault's government's energy reform, adopted under closure last June. It aims to limit residential electricity rate increases to a maximum of three per cent. In addition, the corporation has announced an increase in its budget for measures to help consumers reduce their bills, including the smart thermostat program, up to $2.5 billion for the next three years. In the business community, the proposed 4.8 per cent increase is already drawing criticism, though Hydro-Quebec denies that it is hurting small and medium businesses. 'Rates in Quebec remain significantly lower than in other jurisdictions,' said Dave Rhéaume, executive vice president of commercial operations and head of customer relations, at a press conference. The Régie de l'énergie is expected to render a decision in March 2026. The new rates would then be scheduled to take effect on April 1 that year. - This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on July 31, 2025.
National Post
8 minutes ago
- National Post
Michael Higgins: Mark Carney abandons Canadian principles for pinky promises on Palestine
There's an axiom that you don't negotiate with terrorists. Give credit where it is due, Prime Minister Mark Carney didn't negotiate with Hamas, he just surrendered to them. Article content Carney's announcement on Wednesday that Canada would recognize the state of Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in September is a direct consequence of the butchery, slaughter, rape and abductions carried out by Hamas on October 7, 2023. Article content Article content Article content It is a reward for terrorism. Article content Article content To be sure, there has been a lot of death and destruction since that date, and Israel cannot escape all the blame — but that mayhem could have been avoided if Hamas had handed over the hostages they took 21 months ago. Article content At his press conference Wednesday, Carney said, 'The deepening suffering of civilians leaves no room for delay in coordinated international action to support peace, security and the dignity of human life.' Article content Terrific. But what if those fine words had been offered by a Liberal prime minister on October 8, 2023? What if he had been joined by the British prime minister of the time (since the current one, Keith Starmer, is also intent on recognizing a Palestinian state)? What if the UN had joined them? Article content If international action had been mobilized on October 8 against the obscenity that is Hamas, we wouldn't be where we are today. Article content Carney also said, 'Canada is always among the first to stand to defend peace and security around the world.' Article content Article content Not on October 8, 2023 it wasn't. Article content Article content Carney said, 'International cooperation is essential to securing lasting peace and stability in the Middle East and Canada will do its best to help lead that effort.' Article content Carney's official statement reads, 'For decades, it was hoped that this outcome (a two-state solution) would be achieved as part of a peace process built around a negotiated settlement between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority. Regrettably this approach is no longer credible.' Article content To clarify, it's almost nine decades since a two-state solution was first proposed and then rejected by the Palestinians. Article content It is instructive to look back at that proposal by the Peel Commission which issued a report in 1937 urging the partition of the British Middle East into a Jewish and an Arab homeland. Article content Because almost ninety years later nothing has changed. Article content The Peel Commission said, 'For Partition means that neither will get all it wants. It means that the Arabs must acquiesce in the exclusion from their sovereignty of a piece of territory, long occupied and once ruled by them. It means that the Jews must be content with less than the Land of Israel they once ruled and have hoped to rule again. But it seems possible that on reflection both parties will come to realize that the drawbacks of Partition are outweighed by its advantages. For, if it offers neither party all it wants, it offers each what it wants most, namely freedom and security.'
