Crowd doubles at Iqaluit pride picnic

Over 300 Iqaluit residents celebrated the annual Pride and Friends of Pride Picnic at the Sylvia Grinnell Pavilion last Sunday, the largest turnout since the picnic launched four years ago.

The event was originally run on a lower key. This year, the group put up posters around Iqaluit, and ran public service announcements on the radio, and got a positive response in return.

Organizer Allison Brewer says that the anti-gay comments made by MLAs last year was an eye-opener for the people of Nunavut, most of whom “don’t discriminate on the basis of sex.”

Premier Paul Okalik spoke at the picnic, saying the day the Human Rights legislation passed in the house was one of the most important of his premiership.

He said that he learned what it felt like to be singled out and discriminated against when he was a student in the South, and that he received his greatest support from gays and lesbians.

Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik also attended. MP Nancy Karetak-Lindell called from Winnipeg to offer best wishes. Both the Legion and the Royal Purple made donations for the picnic.