Toronto’s annual Pride parade will kick off Sunday afternoon, filling the streets of downtown Toronto with rainbow colours and celebration.This year’s parade includes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who became the first sitting prime minister to participate last year, and First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde. The festivities at Canada’s largest Pride parade begin at 2 p.m. at the intersection of Church and Bloor Sts. Road closures will be in effect as the parade winds its way through Toronto’s gay village towards Yonge-Dundas Square.Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory will be marching as well.Heavy rain briefly began falling downtown with thunder and lightning around noon. Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for Toronto, warning of more showers and thunderstorms with wind gusts up to 70 kilometres an hour and hail possible into the early evening. The Sunday-morning church service led by Rev. Brent Hawkes, who has led the annual Pride service for more than two decades, ended early because of the rain.The forecast calls for Temperatures in the city to be moderate, with a high of 21 C. Last year’s parade was especially eventful, with Black Lives Matter (BLM) staging a sit-in that ended with Toronto Pride officials signing an agreement sign an agreement that included banning Toronto police from having a float this year.BLM has argued that allowing uniformed officers at the parade could discourage marginalized communities from attending.In a statement, Pride organizers said LGBTQ police officers are welcome to participate in the parade with community groups, but not in uniform. Instead, dozens will march in their uniforms with members of the New York Police Department at the New York Pride parade Sunday at the invitation of the Gay Officers Action League of New York.However, BLM won’t be taking part in the parade this year, as the group didn’t register by the May 20 deadline ...
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