Facts About Pride in Canada

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Here are some facts about Pride in Canada:

The first coordinated Pride celebration happened in 1973, during Pride Week in the cities, Winnipeg, Montreal, Saskatoon, Vancouver and Ottawa.

At the Third Annual Inter-tribal Native American, First Nations, Gay and Lesbian American Conference, the term “two-spirit” was created in Winnipeg in 1990.

On the 10th anniversary of Stonewall, Montreal held its first Pride march in 1979. Now Montreal Pride is one of the largest francophone celebrations.

In 2014, with an estimated 2 million attendance, Toronto became the first city to host WorldPride.

The first time the Pride flag was raised at Parliament Hill in Ottawa was in 2016.

In 2016, the Pride Parade in Toronto was stopped temporarily by the Black Lives Matter movement to address Pride Toronto’s commitments to address anti-Blackness.

In 2009, the first Trans-March started in Toronto. Originally, Toronto Pride officials had it confined to smaller streets but the marchers pushed past the barricades and marched on in the Pride Parade anyway.

In 2003, during Pride Month, Ontario was the first province to legalize same-sex marriage. Days later, then-Prime Minister Jean Chrétien legalized same-sex marriage across Canada, becoming the fourth country in the world to permit same-sex marriage.