Vancouver Pride Parade takes over downtown with celebration (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)
Wildfire smoke from the BC Interior didn’t dampen the celebratory spirit of the 39th annual Vancouver Pride Parade and Festival on Sunday.
Hundreds of thousands of people lined a 20-block-long parade route, stretched along Robson Street, Denman Street, and Beach Avenue, to watch the colourful revelry, which lasted for roughly three hours.
Although Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was in BC this weekend, he did not march in the parade this year and was instead represented by Minister of Defence and Vancouver South MP Harjit Sajjan.
John Horgan also joined the usual BC NDP entry, marking his first time attending the event as the premier of the province.
Also marching yesterday were the cast of Sense8, who are currently filming in the city, and The Matrix series co-creator Lana Wachowski.
The Vancouver Police and RCMP also attended the parade despite demands from Black Lives Matter earlier this year to ban police officers from marching.
However, the Vancouver Pride Society decided a compromise was the best route to take, and instead mandated that less police officers wear their uniforms while marching and barred police patrol cars and armoured vehicles.
Here are photos and videos from the 2017 Vancouver Pride Parade and Festival:
Daily Hive is a Proud Media Partner of the Vancouver Pride Society
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