Fierté Montréal, also called Montreal Pride, is an annual LGBT pride festival in Montreal, Quebec. The event was founded in 2007 at the initiative of Montreal’s LGBTQ+ communities after the city's prior Pride festival, Divers/Cité, repositioned itself as a general arts and music festival.[1]
| Fierté Montréal Montreal Pride | |
|---|---|
 2018 Montreal Pride Parade | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Pride festival |
| Location(s) | Montreal, Quebec |
| Country | Canada |
| Years active | 17 |
| Inaugurated | 2007 |
| Attendance | 3.4 million entries (2019) |
| Website | fiertemtl |
Montreal Pride is one of the largest LGBTQ+ festivals in Canada alongside Pride Toronto, and the largest LGBTQ+ gathering in the francophone world.[2] Active year-round, Montreal Pride supports local LGBTQ+ communities and advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ people living in countries that are hostile toward LGBTQ+ rights.[2]
Today, Montreal Pride Festival attracts more than 3 million local and international visitors for 11 days of community, cultural, and festive activities including free shows, panels, and the parade.[3]
Fierté Canada Pride Montreal 2017
edit
From August 10 to 20, 2017, the festival’s special edition Fierté Canada Pride Montreal 2017, was featured as part of the official programming of Montreal’s 375th and Canada 150 celebrations. In the lead-up to the parade, Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre offered an official apology to the LGBTQ+ community for violence and discrimination perpetrated against the community by local police forces in the 1960s to 1990s.[4] The 2017 edition of the parade was the largest in the city's history. In an event that attracted significant media attention, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau marched that year with Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar (the first openly gay Irish leader) and Vradkar's partner Matthew Barrett.[5] The grand marshals for this special Montreal Pride edition included: John Banks, Janik Bastien Charlebois, Puelo Deir, Khloé Dubé, Florence Gagnon, Mona Greenbaum, Maïtée Labrecque-Saganash, Mado Lamotte, Fleurien Leth Graveson, Stuart Milk, Martine Roy, Bill Ryan, Jack Saddleback, Mark Singh, Chrissy Taylor and Mark Tewksbury.
Montreal Pride 2018
editThe 12th edition of the Montreal Pride festival ran from August 9 to 19, 2018. The parade was led by transgender women and their allies holding a sign which read “Trans women first, never again last.”[6] The theme for the parade was the fifth color of the LGBTQ+ flag: blue. The grand marshals of the parade included Jacq Brasseur, Stonewall activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, U.S. Olympic athlete Gus Kenworthy, Dominique Lavergne, Julie Lemieux, Kennedy Olango, and Dany Turcotte.[7]
Montreal Pride 2019
editThe 13th edition of the Montreal Pride festival ran from August 8 to 18, 2019. The grand marshals of the festival included: LGBTQ+ militant and athlete Val Desjardins, advocate and M. Cuir Montréal 2011 Dany Godbout, author and activist Ma-Nee Chacaby, creator of the trans flag Monica Helms, actor and advocate Wilson Cruz and founder of Proud To Be Us Laos Anan Bouapha.[8] The headliners for this edition included: Ciara, Margaret Cho, Ariane Moffatt, Steve Grand, 12 stars of RuPaul's Drag Race for the Drag Superstars show hosted by Sasha Velour with performances from Robin S and Janice Robinson. The theme for Montreal's 36th Pride Parade was the sixth color of the LGBTQ+ flag: violet.[9]
Shortly prior to Montreal's Pride parade, LGBTQ activists supporting the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests were expelled from participating in the event for alleged security reasons. The move was criticized as giving in to threats against the pro-Hong Kong activists from pro-Chinese Communist Party groups.[10][11][12]
COVID era
editDue to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, the traditional Fierté Montréal festival was cancelled; in its place, organizers presented a digital program of online events over the internet.[13] The events included a special virtual edition of the annual Drag Superstars show, featuring prerecorded video performances by all of the competing queens from the first season of Canada's Drag Race.[14] Competitor Rita Baga, known as Jean-François Guèvremont when not on stage, is Fierté Montréal's director of programming.[14]
In 2022, the planned parade was cancelled just a few hours before it was set to begin,[15] with organizers blaming a lack of volunteer security staff due to COVID.[16] Despite the cancellation of the official parade, however, over 1,000 attendees began their own impromptu march along the parade route.[16]
WorldPride 2023
editMontreal Pride submitted an application to the InterPride committee to host WorldPride in 2023;[17] however, its bid was not successful, with the event being awarded to Sydney, Australia.
Montreal Pride 2023
editIn May 2023, Montreal Pride launched a comprehensive rebrand of its website and logo, meant to signal that the non-profit had moved on from the last-minute cancellation of the 2022 parade, which was cancelled due to a lack of organization.[18] Montreal Pride has hired 200 additional employees with event planning experience to ensure the August 13 parade is well-organized and prepared for the 100,000 expected attendees.[19]
As of 2023, Fierté Montréal also sponsors an award for the best LGBTQ-themed film screening at the annual Festival du nouveau cinéma.
References
edit- ^ "Has Montreal’s founding gay Pride group Divers/Cité folded?" Archived 2015-07-02 at the Wayback Machine. Daily Xtra, March 4, 2015.
- ^ a b "Yellowknife LGBTQ champion to be a grand marshal at Montreal Pride". CBC News. June 3, 2018. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- ^ "The Pride circuit struggles to redefine itself". montrealgazette. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
- ^ Laframboise, Kalina. "'A long time coming': Montreal apologizes for past police raids targeting LGBT community" Archived 2017-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, CBC News, Montreal, 18 August 2017. Retrieved on 24 August 2017.
- ^ Anderson, Nicola. "Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner join Trudeau at the Montreal Pride Parade" Archived 2017-08-25 at the Wayback Machine, Irish Independent, Dublin, 20 August 2017. Retrieved on 24 August 2017.
- ^ "Transgender women take the lead in Montreal's 34th Pride parade". Montreal Gazette. 2018-08-20. Archived from the original on 2018-11-01. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
- ^ "Fierté Montréal dévoile les coprésidents de sa douzième édition" (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2018-10-31.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "La coprésidence assurée par 6 militant.e.s de la diversité sexuelle et de genre" (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2019-09-20.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Montreal's 36th Pride parade commemorates history of LGBTQ activism". Montreal Gazette. August 18, 2019. Archived from the original on September 15, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
- ^ Loewen, Claire (August 27, 2019). "Hong Kong activists booted from Montreal Pride parade after alleged pro-Communist threats". CBC News. Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
- ^ Young, Ian (2019-08-29). "Montreal Pride expels gay Hong Kong marchers, after 'pro-Communist threats'". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2019-08-28. Retrieved 2019-08-28.
- ^ Loewen, Claire (August 30, 2019). "'A major fail': Ex-ambassador to China says Montreal Pride should have protected Hong Kong activists". CBC News. Archived from the original on August 30, 2019. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
- ^ Katelyn Thomas, "Montreal Pride announces physically distant summer festival". CTV Montreal, May 19, 2020.
- ^ a b André-Constantin Passiour, "Une édition canadienne toute spéciale de Drag Superstars"[permanent dead link]. Fugues, August 9, 2020.
- ^ Daniel J. Rowe, "Montreal Pride parade cancelled hours before event due to lack of volunteers". CTV News Montreal, August 7, 2022.
- ^ a b Ziya Jones, "Montreal’s makeshift Pride march was more meaningful than any parade". Xtra!, August 11, 2022.
- ^ "Cost, corporatization: Fierté Montréal preps bid for 2023 WorldPride". Montreal Gazette. July 9, 2019. Archived from the original on July 10, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
- ^ Stevenson, Verity (October 5, 2022). "Disorganization and a misunderstanding led to cancelling of Montreal Pride parade: report". CBC. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
- ^ Stevenson, Verity; Oduro, Kwabena (May 18, 2023). "Montreal Pride launches rebrand, says it's confident parade will go on as planned this year". CBC News. Retrieved May 24, 2023.