Toronto mayor speaks out for police inclusion after Pride protest

Toronto Mayor JohnTory is speakingout after last weekend's Black Lives Matter protest at Canada's largestgay Pride parade, calling the group's demand of excluding police participation inthe event "a backwards step."

• Black Lives Matter stalls Toronto Pride parade
• BLM flooded with hate mail following Pride protest
• Gay Toronto police officer pens open letter to Pride

At Wednesday's Eid al-Fitrcelebration at the Canadian National Exhibition, Tory said: "Now is the time to go forward and include more people in the Pride celebrations.

"We've come so far in relations between the police and the LGBTQ2S community, and the police have embraced Pride, Pride have embraced the police.I think to go backwards from there would be a backwards step for the whole community and for Pride."

The comments come after the mayor pennedaletter of supportto the Toronto Police Association in regards to alist of demands from Black Lives Matter,including a ban on police floats in future parades.

"Toronto police have had a presence in the parade for more than a decade and we would have serious concernsif they were excluded," said thestatement from the mayor's office, days before organizers are set to meet withpolice Chief Mark Saunders later this week.

"The Toronto police have and continue to make significant efforts under the leadership of Chief Saunders to build bridges with theLGBTQ2Scommunity. As a city, we rely on our police service to keep Pride happy and safe ... and the mayor believes they must continue to do so going forward."

On Sunday, Black Lives Matter Toronto protesters blocked the Pride parade route for about 30 minutes.The parade resumed once Pride's executive director signed thelist of demands from Black Lives Matter.

Following the disruption,Pride Toronto said it never agreed to exclude police from its eventsand that they wouldcontinue to havediscussions with both sidesabout policeinvolvement in the parade.