The morning of the Toronto Pride parade dawned golden and sunny. Bursts of rainbow colour dotted of Yonge and College Sts. as people set up tents and prepared for Canada’s largest Pride parade, which is set to start at 2 p.m. Sunday.In the city’s traditional gay village, by Church and Alexander Sts., the air was thick with excitement as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended the annual morning church service. Wearing rainbow-coloured socks honouring the beginning of Eid al-Fitr, also Sunday, Trudeau made time to shake hands, take pictures and listen. Trudeau last year became the first sitting prime minister to march in the parade. He will be joined at this year’s edition by First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde, Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory.At the service just before noon, Rev. Brent Hawkes, Senior Pastor at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto opened by asking people to come together to celebrate their differences — before fat raindrops fell from the skies, sending people skittering like marbles, ending the service early.The heavy rain and thunder passed quickly, but 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 forecast calls for Temperatures in the city to be moderate, with a high of 21 C. The festivities at Canada’s largest Pride parade were set to 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.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 that included banning Toronto police from having a float this year.BLM has argued that allowing uniformed officers at the parade could discourage ma ...
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