Capital Pride opens up about parade fallout, Queers for Palestine
Capital Pride board member David Breault said they tried to negotiate with Queers For Palestine in good faith despite the logistical challenges.
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aula Tran
Published Sep 01, 2025 • Last updated 15 hours ago • 6 minute read
Capital Pride executive director Callie Metler spoke with a board member as things unravelled on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 due to the pro-Palestinian protests on the parade route.
Capital Pride executive director Callie Metler spoke with a board member as things unravelled on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025 due to the pro-Palestinian protests on the parade route. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia
A board member from Capital Pride is opening up with their thoughts about this year’s parade, one week after it was cancelled after a pro-Palestinian group blocked the route.
On Sunday, Aug. 24, members for Queers For Palestine Ottawa (Q4P-O) blocked the Capital Pride Parade on Wellington Street near O’Connor Street shortly after it began at 1 p.m.
The group, invited by parade grand marshal Miss Patience Plush to march alongside her, stopped the parade to protest against Capital Pride silently dropping its statement in support of Palestinians, made in 2024. Q4P-O also issued a list of demands to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and Capital Pride.
The parade was paused for nearly two hours before it was cancelled by Capital Pride. More than 10,000 participants and 200 groups were expected to march in the parade that day. Most people did not get the opportunity to leave the staging area near city hall.
“The decision was made to halt the march until Capital Pride and the mayor came to be accountable to their community, and to speak with their village and publicly commit supporting the village and our solidarity values, instead of using the day as a photo-op without any accountability,” Masha Davidovic of Q4P-O told the Ottawa Citizen in an interview last week.
Masha Davidovic, a member of Queers for Palestine Ottawa, was one of the group leading the pro- Palestinian demonstration that brought the parade to a stop.
Masha Davidovic, a member of Queers for Palestine Ottawa, was one of the group leading the pro- Palestinian demonstration that brought the Pride parade to a stop. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia
Speaking to the Ottawa Citizen on Saturday, Capital Pride’s first media interview since last week, board member David Breault said Q4P-O would make suggestions that they did not have the authority to make.
Capital Pride’s executive director Callie Metler was trying to negotiate ways to reroute the parade with Emily Quaile of Q4P-O that day, Breault said.
However, Capital Pride was not able to reroute the parade because they only had a permit to close down a certain number of streets for the parade and the festival that weekend. Breault said they decided to cancel the remainder of the parade when it became logistically impossible to move everyone out of the staging area by the time permits expired at 4 p.m.
“We very much waited until the last call. Obviously, we didn’t want to pre-emptively call things too early until we ended up in a place where we had no other choice,” Breault said.
“Even rerouting a parade isn’t something that can be done in an hour. The city puts up notices days ahead of time to stop people from parking on the streets. Barricades need to be put up. Volunteers need to be set up. Streets need to be closed. Folks need to be advised, buses need to be rerouted.
“As much as Queers For Palestine suggested that we simply reroute the parade, that is legitimately impossible to try.”
Breault said Capital Pride still tried to negotiate with Q4P-O in good faith despite the logistical challenges.
Pride parade attendees walk away from event
Parade goers walked away after the Pride parade festivities were cancelled due to a pro-Palestinian protest. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia
In a previous statement posted on social media, Capital Pride accused Q4P-O of refusing to have a meaningful discussion on how to move forward. It also accused Q4P-O of being unwilling to engage in a meaningful conversation and being “insistent in misrepresenting” the discussions.
“Whenever (Q4P-O) made a suggestion, we said we would look into this. There was always a response saying, ‘OK, let’s see if our folks are happy with that.’ And then they would go off and we were not welcome to be part of those discussions,” he said.
“Sometimes, we would just wait. … And basically every time Queers For Palestine came back to us, the response was the same: we’re not moving until the mayor comes up to us.”
‘Give us some grace’
Breault urged Sutcliffe to give Capital Pride some grace as they plan for next year.
Sutcliffe told reporters at a news conference the day after the parade was cancelled that it is Capital Pride’s responsibility to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
But Breault said Capital Pride is a tiny non-profit organization with only one full-time staff member and seven volunteer board members. The parade and the festival are also run largely by volunteers and a handful of summer students.
A Capital Pride board member was disappointed with Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe's stance after the parade had been cancelled.
A Capital Pride board member was disappointed with Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s stance the day after the parade had been cancelled. Photo by Tony Caldwell /Postmedia
He added the expectations on the tiny Capital Pride team to put on a successful festival and parade are “very, very high.”
“We regularly punch above our weight class in terms of delivering one of the largest festivals in the city, and largely done by volunteers. I wish there had been more of an olive branch, like the city is going to work with us next year to improve, rather than putting the responsibility fully on our shoulders,” Breault said.
“Don’t get me wrong. We’re absolutely taking this seriously. We’re absolutely going to be meeting not just with the mayor’s office but with city officials and other groups in the city to figure out a better plan for next year.
“Historically, Pride has been a place where human rights issues are highlighted, where people speak out around issues that are important to them, and we still want to hold space for that, but we still have to balance it with wanting to organize a successful festival.”
He also said there has been a lot of pressure from different groups, including threats to pull funding.
This includes pressures from the mayor’s office, he said, but he did not elaborate on what those pressures were.
“There’s no specific email, but pressures were applied. Our goal is to have a successful festival and organize a successful Pride parade. We also have to balance out the very real expectations and demands of different community groups, and whether people like it or not, that costs money, and, as board members, we have to make decisions that aren’t going to put Pride in jeopardy,” Breault said.
“It comes to difficult decisions. We have a responsibility to the organization. Even though we only have one staff member, we’re also making choices that ensure that our staff are protected, feel safe and not have their livelihoods jeopardized.
Breault said Capital Pride does not regret posting the statement to support Palestinians.
“Do we regret posting what we did last year? No, it’s still the right thing to do to talk about human rights issues, right?” he said.
Looking forward
Breault said Capital Pride is planning to meet with Q4P-O before next year’s parade and festival to discuss what happened.
Capital Pride's annual parade launched from City Hall Saturday but ground to a halt near Parliament Hill after pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked the route.
Capital Pride’s annual parade launched from city hall on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2025, but ground to a halt near Parliament Hill after pro-Palestinian demonstrators blocked the route. Photo by Ashley Fraser /Postmedia
“I think it’s very important we have a discussion with them about what happened during this parade. I don’t think anybody won Sunday. And so I think we’re going to have to have some very difficult conversations. I think we’re going to have some very important ones as well. I don’t know what those are going to look like; it’s definitely something that we are not going to be waiting until next year to do,” he said.
Board members have also started to reach out to groups and participants who didn’t get to march in the parade before it was cancelled. Many participants found out about the cancellation through Capital Pride’s social media pages.
Breault said it was logistically and physically impossible to go to every float and notify everyone about the cancellation, but said they tried their best with the volunteers they had.
“We have already started contacting all of the participants who are in the parade to let them know what’s happened, to give them an opportunity to share their perspective. We’re going to do the work of meeting with everybody if that’s something they want to do, to talk about what happened, hear their perspective, hear their concerns about what happened, about their participation next year,” he said.
“It’s something that we are going to be taking very seriously over the next few months, and just making sure that people who were there and the folks who showed up understand where we’re at.”
A Capital Pride board member said they tried to negotiate with Queers For Palestine in good faith despite the logistical challenges.
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