Edmonton Pride Parade 2018 – Radical Citizen Media
2018 was the last Pride Parade held in the City of Edmonton. The Parade – held on Saturday, June 9, 2018 – ran east on 82 Avenue (Whyte Avenue) to 104 Street where it then turned North to Gazebo Park Park where it disbanded and Parade attendees then headed East to End of Steel Park for the Pride Festival grounds. At about 10 minutes after the start of the Parade reached 104 Street it was blocked by protesters who held up the parade for over 30 minutes while officials from the Edmonton Pride Festival Society attempted to negotiate a resolution while considering the “Demands” of the protesters. (See a copy of their demands below)
This video was filmed by Radical Citizen Media and is available on their YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@radicalcitizenmedia/. It was filmed from the SW corner of 105 Street and 82 Avenue. At about the 13:00 minute mark the Parade stalls and filming continued until about 16:35 when the videographer stopped and moved East on 82 avenue to the scene of the Protesters. This was filmed separately and a portion is presented below the Parade.
Our thanks to Radical Citizen Media for they do documenting progressive social movements and citizen engagement in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada – one pixel at a time.
Radical Citizen Media is an independent media outlet that visually documents the peace movement, activist community, and contemporary issues from a progressive perspective in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The site operates with the philosophy that the best way to report on an event or issue is to present it as it happens, so that viewers can draw meanings for themselves.
This is the video from Radical Citizen Media taken of the Protesters and Parade participants who were attempting to reason with the group to allow the Parade to continue. (Trigger warning: this video captures heated, volatile language and features faces of Protesters as well as members of the Northern Chaps Leather Group who were about to turn onto 104 Street when the Protesters stopped them by forming a human chain in front of their entry.)
To view a Gallery of images taken by Radical Citizen Media please check out their Protest at Edmonton Pride Parade Gallery on Flickr
https://www.flickr.com/photos/raisemyvoice/albums/72157692060749610
For more reading:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-pride-parade-lgbtq-politics-alberta-1.4699694
https://thegatewayonline.ca/2019/03/empty-pride-the-parades-forgotten-history/
The following PDF was prepared by Shades of Colour and RaricaNow who had organized the 2018 Pride Parade Protest. This copy came directly from the Edmonton Pride Festival Society and was provided to them in advance of their vote on the demands at a meeting held on April 4, 2019. That meeting – where 2 representatives from the 2 groups were invited to attend – was over-run by demonstrators associated with the two groups who filled the room beyond its legal capacity forcing the organizers to postpone the meeting for safety reasons when the protesters refused to leave and to call EPS to clear the room.
The following week at the postponed meeting held on April 19, 2019 the Edmonton Pride Festival Society (EPFS) announced that the Pride Parade and Festival was cancelled. Soon after the EPFS disbanded and stopped all organizing activities.
Edmonton Pride Parade cancelled due to ‘current political and social environment – Daily Hive
Directors vote to cancel 2019 Edmonton Pride Festival – CBC News Edmonton
2019 Edmonton Pride Festival cancelled – Edmonton Journal
2019 Edmonton Pride Festival cancelled – Global News Edmonton
Directors vote to cancel 2019 Edmonton Pride Festival – CBC News Edmonton
Rainbow Story Hub
Rainbow Story Hub brings the history of Edmonton's 2SLGBTQ+ community to life from the perspective of those who lived it. Through stories, videos and other media we hope to capture and preserve these stories from the people who lived them. These stories can then be used to inform, educate and enlighten not only our own community through GSA’s and hopefully one day school curriculum but also the greater community we live in today.
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Terrence Adams
