Panel seeks external and community input on Pride

By Kimberly Spice –

For the first time in Pride Toronto history, a community advisory panel (CAP) has been created with a mandate to consult with numerous groups, politicians, stakeholders and the city to create recommendations for Pride on how they should define their objectives.

Target meetings are also included where CAP is invited by other organizations inside or outside the LGBT community to come and discuss their mandate. At this time 17 groups have requested to meet with them.

CAP sees itself as a very separate entity providing Pride with the tools to make decisions on critical areas such as politics and group inclusion.

“We know that all the recommendations will go to the Pride board and they will decide what ever they want,” Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes, chair of the advisory panel and senior pastor at Toronto’s Metropolitan Community Church, told The Bulletin. “We understand that, but we want the community to feel that this is an independent panel making recommendations.”

Hawkes will not disclose specific findings prior to CAP’s submission, but areas of concern are how much influence funders are having in Pride, local entertainment vs. international, whether or not entertainers only be from the LGBT community, and how to correct strained relationships between the transgender and racialized communities.

Pride is becoming an entity unto itself: Hawkes points out that as the organization grows it becomes difficult to keep in touch with the community at the grass roots level.

“When Pride is standing alone it’s not tied into the community in terms of decision making, then Pride is really vulnerable either to making bad decisions or being bullied with their decisions because they haven’t got the community support behind them,” stated Hawkes. “One thing about the LGBT community is sometimes it’s difficult in getting an understanding of what the community wants. It’s not like some communities that have an organization that coordinates that whole community and you go to that organization to get an answer on something.”

CAP hopes to have completed the consultation process by Jan. 15 and release their recommendations to the public, and to the panel’s Facebook friends, in February.

Participation is important to the success of CAP. An online survey at www.communityadvisorypanel.ca will remain open for another three weeks.