Members of Black Lives Matter Toronto made an appearance at the city's Pride parade despite not being registered to march this year.
The group, while not officially listed on Pride Toronto's list of parade participants, took to the parade route just before the end of the day's festivities with raised fists and posters bearing the words, "May we never again have to shut it down."
Speaking to reporters after the demonstration, co-founder Rodney Diverlus wouldn't say how long the group had been planning to show up.
"I don't think that's relevant," he said.
"Pride is actually ours. Queer and trans people of colour actually started this. We don't need to register for a deadline, we don't need to tell you we're coming, we don't need to pay money for a float. We're just going to take up space," said Diverlus.
With raised fists and posters, the group took to the parade route just before the end of the day's festivities with raised fists and posters bearing the words, "May we never again have to shut it down." (BLM_TO/Twitter)
The comments follow the group's 30-minute sit-in at last year's parade, in which they demanded that Toronto police floats and booths be barred from future Pride parades and community events. Their demands also included a commitment to increase representation among Pride Toronto staff and to better support Black events during Pride.
Banned from marching in uniform in this year's march meanwhile, a group 100 Toronto police officers and union representatives travelled to New York City to participate in that city's parade, at the invitation of the Gay Officers Action League (GOAL).
Speaking to CBC Toronto ahead of the march, the force's own LGBT liaison officer, Const. Danielle Bottineau acknowledged many saw that as a "slap in the face."
On Sunday, Diverlus responded to the move by those members of the Toronto police who decided to march in New York City.
"Our police can't just escape us and [hope] that they're not going to be held accountable. Folks in Black Lives Matter New York reminded Toronto police that no matter where they go Black people will resist them. We know where you are, we know what you've done."
"We are here at Pride 2017 to remind the community, that we are still standing up for the them," the organization tweeted Sunday afternoon, towards the end of the parade.
Diverlus said part of the reason for appearing at this year's march unannounced was to draw attention to the list of nine demands that the group presented at last year's Pride Parade — issues he says have been overlooked with all the focus on "where police are at" this year.
"This 2017 Pride festival is more inclusive and accessible because of the actions we took last year," the group tweeted Sunday afternoon.
As part of their message, the group also drew attention to what it called "the violence of police anti-Blackness" in the recent inquest into the death of 45-year-old Andrew Loku, the father of five who came to Canada as a refugee from South Sudan and was shot by police in an apartment corridor while holding a hammer in July 2015.
The group has been highly critical of the Special Investigations Unit assessment of the case and a lack of transparency from the police watchdog.
"This 2017 Pride festival is more inclusive and accessible because of the actions we took last year," the group tweeted Sunday afternoon.
