An alternative Pride event inviting police officers to participate in uniform is a “distraction,” Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders said..

The First Responders Unity Festival – which is taking place in the city on Sunday, the same day as the annual Pride parade – is “reactive," Saunders said, as he defended his decision not to let police officers attend the event in uniform.

“I think it is right now, it’s a bit of a distraction and I’m trying at all costs to eliminate as many distractions as possible so that we have the opportunity to do what we were planning on doing,” he told reporters Tuesday.

The festival was organized in response to a policy banning armed, uniformed police officers from marching in the city's annual Pride parade this year.

The controversial policy was put in place after Black Lives Matter Toronto staged a sit-in protest at the 2016 Pride parade, demanding that police floats and booths also be banned from future events.

Saunders previously directed officers not to attend the parade in uniform as talks continue between police and Pride Toronto.

“I believe my men and women understand what the big picture is here,” he added. “We’ve all got a lot of growing and developing to do and hopefully at the end of the day, what we will have is an even better relationship than we already have.”

Saunders has maintained that officers can participate in both the Pride parade and the First Responders Unity Festival as private citizens.

'It's a festival to unite people'

The First Responders Unity Festival organizer Bryn Hendricks told CP24 the alternative festival aims to allow police and other first responders to celebrate together in uniform.

“It's a festival to unite people really," Hendricks explained. "I mean the idea was to bring together first responders who maybe aren’t able to participate in Pride or are not necessarily feeling comfortable there but to have an event where they are able to participate fully in uniform or out of uniform."

He added that he does not understand why the police chief blocked uniformed officers from participating.

“That decision was made very, very quickly. I’m not sure where it came from,” he said on Tuesday. 

He stated he was particularly perplexed by Saunders’ decision given the fact that he is allowing uniformed officers to participate in the New York Pride parade.

“I’m having trouble understanding where the dividing lines are," Hendricks added. "If they are allowed to participate in New York, is it that the U.S. border is the dividing line?"

Saunders said if the festival had been a long-standing event in the city, he may have made a different decision.

“This event is a new event and it has come across as a result of the status of the present thing so if this was something that was going on year after year after year, chances are I would have a different answer but this is more reactive,” Saunders said.

'We don't want an alternative event'

Toronto Police Association President Mike McCormack said he hasn’t heard from any officers who are upset that they can’t go to the first responder's festival in uniform.

“The problem with this unity event is that it’s being put on by a private individual," he said. "It’s not something that the Toronto Police Association, Toronto Police Service, firefighters or paramedics have put together.

"I can see the chief’s point in not having private people arbitrarily saying officers should show up in uniform. Ultimately it’s up to the chief to decide when officers can wear a uniform.”

McCormack added he doesn’t think Toronto police officers want to have an alternative event within Pride celebrations.

“We don’t want an alternative event. The way it should be is that we should be included. We should be included in Pride,” McCormack said.

He added that the police association is focusing instead this year on an invitation to attend New York City’s Pride parade in uniform the same day as the Toronto Pride parade – a move sanctioned by Saunders.

“The fact that we have to go down to New York City where they know how to do things right – I hope this is a message to our Pride organizers. Let’s get things back on track,” McCormack said.

Hendricks said the police chief turned down a request for a meeting on Tuesday.

“Maybe it is just a matter of timing,” Hendricks said. “We are certainly willing to meet with him the next day.”