PHOTOS: Rainbow flags and politics on display at Montreal pride parade
Cheering crowds lined the streets as activists, politicians and brightly costumed performers danced and cheered as the march stretched over more than two kilometres.
Gregg Blachford, a member of LGBTQ seniors group Gay and Grey, says the event for him is all about good energy and fun for people of different ages.
The mood was upbeat despite controversies in recent days that threatened to overshadow the event.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
The marchers included members of Jewish LGBTQ+ group Ga'ava, which was briefly banned from attending over comments its president made about pro-Palestinian groups.
Organizer Fierté Montréal reversed the ban last week and reaffirmed that 'all communities' were welcome to participate in the events for the 11-day festival.
Story continues below advertisement
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
23 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
The 184 Palestinian journalists killed in the war in Gaza endured hunger and grief
Since the war began in Gaza, 184 Palestinian journalists have been killed, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. They include men and women, freelancers and staffers, veterans with years in the field and young reporters on some of their first assignments. Some were killed with their families at home, others were in vehicles marked 'PRESS,' or in tents near hospitals, or out covering the violence. Many endured the same conditions as those they covered — hunger, displacement, and grief. Among them: —Ayat Khadoura, 27. The Al Quds University graduate shed light on the hardships families faced in the first weeks of the war. She became known for reporting on bombs striking her northern Gaza neighborhood, including one video in which she said Israeli forces had ordered residents to evacuate moments before a strike hit her home and killed her in November 2023. — Hamza Dahdouh, 27. The son of Al Jazeera's Gaza City bureau chief, he was killed in a January 2024 drone strike after leaving a reporting assignment at the site of an earlier strike in southern Gaza. He was the fifth member of his family to be killed. —Fatima Hassouna, 25. The photojournalist was killed in an April 2025 Israeli airstrike a day after a documentary about her efforts to film daily life amid war in Gaza was accepted at a Cannes Film Festival program promoting independent films. — Hossam Shabat, 23. A freelancer from northern Gaza, he was killed while reporting for Al Jazeera in March 2025. Before the war, he told a Beirut-based advocacy group he hoped to start a media company or work in his family's restaurants. — Anas al-Sharif, 28. The father of two was killed in an Israeli strike on a tent outside Shifa hospital on Sunday, days after he wept on air while reporting on starvation deaths in Gaza. The strike — which also killed five other journalists — prompted an outpouring of condemnation from press freedom groups and foreign officials. Israel has accused some of the journalists killed of involvement with militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad — charges that journalists and their outlets have dismissed as baseless. Israel's military did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment about the CPJ data. Figures and methodologies may differ among groups that track journalist deaths. CPJ said it 'independently investigates and verifies the circumstances behind each death,' including to verify journalists' lack of involvement in militant activities. __ Sam Metz in Jerusalem and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed reporting.
Toronto Star
23 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
The 184 Palestinian journalists killed in the war in Gaza endured hunger and grief
Since the war began in Gaza, 184 Palestinian journalists have been killed, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. They include men and women, freelancers and staffers, veterans with years in the field and young reporters on some of their first assignments. Some were killed with their families at home, others were in vehicles marked 'PRESS,' or in tents near hospitals, or out covering the violence. Many endured the same conditions as those they covered — hunger, displacement, and grief.
CBC
24 minutes ago
- CBC
Madonna, U2 speak out on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza
Madonna and U2 have each shone attention on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, among the biggest music stars to do so since the war in the Palestinian enclave began in late 2023 after Hamas's deadly rampage in southern Israel. The statements hours apart took different forms. Madonna's post on Instagram was an open letter to Pope Leo XIV, calling on the American pontiff to "please go to Gaza and bring your light to the children before it's too late." "The children of the world belong to everyone," the pop superstar said. "You are the only one of us who cannot be denied entry. We need the humanitarian gates to be fully opened to save these innocent children." U2, meanwhile, in a joint statement posted Sunday, said that "the blocking of humanitarian aid and now plans for a military takeover of Gaza City has taken the conflict into uncharted territory." The communiqué was accompanied by statements from each band member, with front man Bono saying that the "images of starving children" recalled his time in Ethiopia 40 years ago amid that country's famine. He also condemned the Hamas-led attack on the Nova music festival as "evil." Israel launched its aerial and ground offensive on Gaza after Hamas militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. After previous repatriations and deaths, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu believes some 50 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with around 20 people still alive. Israel's subsequent military assault has seen more than 61,000 Palestinians killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry said last week that around 200 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza since the war began, nearly half of whom were children. And the World Health Organization recently said that in July alone, nearly 12,000 children under five were identified as having acute malnutrition in Gaza — the highest monthly figure ever recorded. Governments and aid organizations have also condemned the killings increasingly seen this summer of Palestinians gathered at aid distribution locations. 'Everyone is suffering' In her comments, Madonna stressed she wasn't "taking sides" in the conflict. "Everyone is suffering. Including the mothers of the hostages," she wrote. "I pray that they are released as well. I am merely trying to do what I can to keep these children from dying of starvation." The pope recently renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, asking the international community to respect humanitarian laws and the obligation to protect civilians. U2 — singer Bono, guitarist the Edge, bass player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen — are no strangers to using music to promote causes, having participated in the 1980s in Live Aid for famine relief in Africa, Artists United Against Apartheid in South Africa, and in various Amnesty International concerts. In his individual statement, the Edge directed his comments to Netanyahu, saying the longer the war continued, Israel risked "becoming isolated, mistrusted, and remembered not as a haven from persecution, but as a state that, when provoked, systematically persecuted a neighbouring civilian population." "We know from our own experience in Ireland that peace is not made through dominance," he said, a reference to the decades-long Troubles in Northern Ireland which killed more than 3,500 people across Great Britain and Ireland between the late 1960s and late 1990s, including civilians and British military personnel. Bono added that the band stood in solidarity with "the people of Palestine who truly seek a path to peace and coexistence with Israel and with their rightful and legitimate demand for statehood," as well as "the remaining hostages and plead that someone rational negotiate their release." While a number of musicians were among the artists calling for a ceasefire just weeks after Israel began its military campaign, as the war has dragged on, more have become increasingly vocal, with the provocative statements of Kneecap and Bob Vylan this year leading to vigorous debate about freedom of speech. Other acts have taken pains to not provoke. Acknowledging the "unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza" in May, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke said he was dismayed at "social media witch-hunts on either side, pressurizing artists and whoever they feel like … to make statements, etc., do very little except heighten the tension, fear and over-simplification of what are complex problems." Music producer Brian Eno is among a group of artists, including members of the Palestinian diaspora, organizing a concert at London's Wembley Stadium on Sept. 17. The Together for Palestine event announced its initial lineup last week, with all proceeds going to support Palestinian-led organizations providing humanitarian relief in Gaza.
