Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders’ decision to accede to demands from the local chapter of Black Lives Matter is supported by only 21 percent of the city’s residents, according to a new Forum Poll released late last week.
In February, Saunders caved to pressure from Black Lives Matter (BLM) and agreed that Toronto Police would not participate in the 2017 Gay Pride Parade. At last year’s event, the police marched with a parade float, but the festivities came to an abrupt halt when BLM participants decided the presence of police made them feel intimidated.
Forum Research polled 966 Toronto voters and almost half (48 percent) disapprove of the Toronto Police chief’s decision not to participate in this year’s parade. Only 21 percent approve of the policy, 27 percent said they have not formed an opinion and four percent responded that they don’t know.
“That the Toronto police won’t have a float in this year’s pride parade is unpopular; in fact, almost fifty-percent of everyone over the age of 34 disapproves. That’s a really broad spectrum of Toronto residents who would prefer the police have a presence in this year’s parade,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research.
The poll was conducted on March 8-10, 2017, with results being considered accurate plus or minus three percent, 19 times out of 20.
Last year’s parade when more than its usual share of news when BLM demonstrators stopped the event to protest the police presence. Things only got started again after the executive director of “Pride Toronto,” Matthieu Chantelois, promised the black activists that he would agree to a list of demands that included a ban on any future participation by the police.
Chanteloisye said later that he only agreed to sign a promissory note as a means of halting the protest and resuming the parade.
Pride Toronto met again in January at its annual meeting and then voted in favor of the BLM edict, but it was unclear whether that edict included marching police officers or just floats.
In his explanation, Saunders referred to divisions within the LGBTQ organizers of the multi-million dollar event.
“We understand the LGBTQ communities are divided,” he said in a statement. “To enable those differences to be addressed, I have decided the Toronto Police Service will not participate, this year, in the Pride parade.”
The police acquiescing to their demands did not satisfy BLM.
“They are trying to flip the narrative and make it seem as if they are choosing to pull out of Pride when in fact they were uninvited,” said spokesperson Syrus Marcus Ware.
Ware said the police chief failed to mention such issues as “anti-blackness and policing” and carding — a standard practice of patrolling dangerous sections of town — that BLM insists is aimed a non-whites.