Thunder Bay is such a unique city. Our festival has been voted by the Best of Walleye’s top 3 Family friendly and free festivals in the city. We have such a huge turn out, 10000+ for the past 2 years and we at thunder pride hear almost everyday that when you drive around Thunder Bay you see rainbows and pride lives here signs, hate has no home here, everyone’s is welcome, trans lives matter signs, all the schools for all 3 school boards proudly have their progressive flags flying and we welcome the new addition of le Conseil Publique du Grand Nord. This is something you do not see in other cities in Ontario. Truly Pride Lives Here.
But that does not mean that our theme this year of Rise Up is not warranted here. We still live in Canada and North America where the threat levels of bigotry are higher and higher fueled by a small portion of the population who spread disinformation and hate to our politicians who take on their cause and turn the heads of the rest of Canada. Regular people who were maybe not allies but not hateful either, the type to just mind their own business and not really pay attention to others lives, now are politicized in rhetoric about pronouns and grammar, gender identity, claiming to want to “protect the children” while calling in bomb threats, and the oh so many threats of violence to our community, entertainers and leaders both queer and allied alike. Both in the last 4 months have Canadian CICIS and American FBI have made warnings about the possibility of attacks and violence in North America during pride month.
We need to rise up together to prove a strong voice for all of the superior region that equity, dignity , respect, mental and physical health care should not be a political standpoint: they are human rights. Community and allies alike need to Rise Up when you see or hear hate. To protect the community; We must Rise Up and join the lead from our colleagues in Fort Frances Borderland Pride in turning calling drag queens groomers or peados into hate speech to grow into more provincial and federal protective laws regarding hate speech like that that just passed in Scotland: new offence of “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred” on the grounds of age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.
We need to rise up to build the bridge of reconciliation with police services to work on understanding the history between the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and years of us being illegal people, jailed, convicted, humiliated and executed for being queer. To learn to rebuild the trust in the service that is supposed to help and protect us from hate crimes and gendered based violence. In building a community lead working group to created pride specific training for all officers and staff.
We must Rise up to stand with our educators, schools and other educational institutions to continue to teach correct science, sociology and history when blind ignorance wants to shut them down. Where a school is susposted to be the fun place to learn, meet new people from all walks of life with guidance for respect and kindness. We live in a diverse world filled with different sexes, gender roles, bodies, creativity, beauty and life: this is nature: we are nature. Embrace and love our beautiful world for everything in it.
I most of all welcome all of you to rise up and join in June’s extensive calendar of events, to meet new people, learn new perspectives in all safe and fun spaces, and continue this beautiful intersectional community we have.
-Scotia Kauppi, Chair of Thunder Pride 2024
