Toronto Pride Parade will include a tribute to Bruce McArthur’s alleged victims

Toronto Pride has revealed it will be including a tribute to Bruce McArthur’s alleged victims. 

Though Pride parades always use rainbow colours through the celebration, this year’s Toronto pride will include a sea of black which is expected to close the parade. 

Olivia Nuamah, the executive director of Pride Toronto, revealed that barriers will open at the end of the parade and the audience will be invited to match in silence wearing black. 

Speaking to CBC, Nuamah said: “It’s one of the ways we want to commemorate the death of eight men in our community.

“The one thing that feels celebratory [about Pride] is the colour and the one thing that we’re really trying to take away this year is the colour.

“Even though we understand that we’re celebrating, we also need to deal with some hard truths about the LGBTQ community and the issues of safety that we will suffer.” 

McArthur is currently being accused of murdering eight men after their remains were found in a number of properties owned by the landscaper across Toronto. 

Police have been searching properties McArthur had worked at for remains after having found at least six other sets of remains, three of which were identified as belonging to Soroush Marmudi, Andrew Kinsman and Skandaraj Navaratnam.

McArthur was arrested and charged with the murders of two men in January, before being charged with the murders of four more men whose remains were found in the garden planters.

To pay tribute to the alleged victims, the Pride Parade’s volunteers will wear black and hold a minute of silence before the celebration. It hasn’t been done for two years, but Olivia Nuamah says it “felt right” to bring the minute of silence back in 2018.

Toronto’s Pride Parade will be held on June 24.