It’s June and that means the start of one of Toronto’s biggest annual celebrations – Pride Month! Pride brings Torontonians together to celebrate the history, courage and diversity of Toronto’s Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer communities (2SLGBTQ+).

Last Friday, we launched the Pride festivities with Pride Toronto and raised the Progress Pride flag at City Hall. Ceremonies were also held in North York, Etobicoke and Scarborough. Don’t worry if you missed them, Pride Month celebrations continue throughout the month of June, including the annual Pride Parade on June 30. It’s always a great time when all divisions of the Toronto Public Service come together to show their pride. Registration is open now.

Since 1991, the Pride Festival in Toronto has been a vibrant celebration of Toronto’s diverse 2SLGBTQ+ communities, rooted in a long history of community advocacy. It’s also a way to bring meaningful awareness to inequities still faced by these communities. As public servants, I know many of you are putting in commendable work to advance equity and inclusion in our city – but we know there is more we can do.

Pride Month is a great reminder to explore the resources and learnings available to staff to further your understanding of 2SLGBTQ+ communities and work to remove barriers in City policies, programs and services. The Toronto for All learning intranet page is a good place to start. Staff can also use the Equity Lens Tool, which allows you conduct an equity impact analysis on policies, programs and services to identify unintended barriers that might impact Indigenous, Black and equity-deserving groups. The 2SLGBTQ+ Council Advisory Committee is another way we incorporate meaningful feedback and engagement from the public to identify and meet the unique needs of 2SLGBTQ+ communities in Toronto.

I want to give a special thank you to the Toronto Pride Network for organizing and supporting many of this month’s commemorations, as well as the pivotal role they play all year long as a Community of Inclusion that supports 2SLGBTQ+ employees to bring their whole selves to work, to achieve their full potential and to deliver excellent public service.

I, along with the Senior Leadership Team, want every member of the Toronto Public Service to feel safe and supported in bringing their authentic self to the workplace every single day. We’re committed to upholding our Workplace Culture theme of embracing diversity and inclusion. All City staff can help us advance these values by educating ourselves, listening to and amplifying voices of 2SLGBQTQ+ communities, demonstrating allyship and centring their perspectives into our work.

Let’s carry the spirit of Pride with us all year long to strengthen our public service and our city. Happy Pride!

Paul
(City Manager Paul Johnson)