Calgary Pride wants police chief, top cops to take Diversity and Inclusion training
Posted Jul 26, 2017 10:55 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary Pride Parade officials want local law enforcement to participate in Pride celebrations, with two conditions: leave the uniforms at home, and engage in diversity lessons.
A release online said, “Calgary Police Services Chief of Police Roger Chaffin, and Deputy Chief of Police Sat Parhar, in addition to the Senior Executive team of Calgary Police Services will engage in formal Diversity and Inclusion training, prior to displaying institutional representation within future Calgary Pride activities. Similar conversations will take place with other law enforcement agencies. We believe [the] CPS Senior Executive team’s engagement in formal Diversity and Inclusion training will demonstrate their commitment to allyship and creating a cultural shift in law enforcement agencies’ approach to diversity and inclusion, within a top-down approach. This commitment will strengthen community relations with Calgary’s gender and sexually diverse community. The proposed date of this training will be announced when details have been finalized.”
In the release, Calgary Pride also cited “participating staff and officers of Calgary Police Services and other law enforcement agencies (RCMP, Correctional Services, etc.) will participate without uniforms, firearms, vehicles, or any forms of institutional representation, such as floats etc.”
The Pride team said the CPS senior management team, through discussions with VOICES, has been made well aware of the conditions, and Pride is excited to work with law enforcement moving forward.
Calgary’s Pride Parade is scheduled for September 3, 2017.
The requests follow similar decisions from Pride organizers across the country.
