Kuujjuaq’s Pride celebration is about loving who you are, says organizer
LGBTQ2S+ community and friends plan parade, dance on Saturday
A municipal flatbed truck is decorated with bright rainbow colours for Kuujjuaq’s Pride parade in June 2024. (File photo by Cedric Gallant)
Kuujjuaq Pride organizer Tommy Sequaluk hopes Saturday’s event will encourage more people to not be afraid of who they are. (Photo courtesy of Tommy Sequaluk)
Kuujjuaq is hosting its fifth-annual Pride celebration on Saturday with a parade, barbecue and sober dance party.
“We did a lot this year; I’m proud of my team,” organizer Tommy Sequaluk said in an interview ahead of the event.
The parade will kick off by 1 p.m. at the Kuujjuaq Forum featuring a decorated flatbed truck bedazzled with Pride flags and other festive accessories to celebrate the day.
It wouldn’t be a Pride parade without dancing, so the truck will be pumping out music while people follow on foot or in their vehicles. It’s expected to take 20 to 30 minutes for the parade to arrive at town hall, Sequaluk said.
After it arrives, there will be a musical performance by Niivi Snowball, one of the founders of the community’s Pride celebration, with flags and stickers available for participants.
Parade-goers won’t go hungry or thirsty with snacks, a barbecue and water provided at town hall until 3 p.m.
Festivities start up again at 7 p.m. with what organizers call a sober dance party featuring a DJ, dancing and other party fun, also at the town hall.
Sequaluk, who was born and raised in Kuujjuaq, has been attending Pride events since the beginning.
“[Pride] is very important to us [in Kuujjuaq] because a lot of people are afraid to come out,” he said.
The parade is important, he said, because it’s about encouraging people to not be ashamed of who they are.
He especially hopes a lot of young people will join in the daylong celebration.
“It’s a message for all the young youth who are afraid to come out [of the closet],” Sequaluk said.
In 2024, Kuujjuaq Pride faced a setback after the Nunavik Board of Health and Social Services declined to provide funding and support for the event.
This year, Sequaluk said, he and other organizers raised money by selling sushi and earrings.
Shame on the healthboard for not financing this simple activity that means a lot for some young, very marginalized Inuit. Instead, let’s spend thousands of dollars so that the chronically unemployed and drunk can go heal on the land and get right back to bullying and bible-thumping.
The funds in Nunavik is ridiculously distributed. Im not even sure if anyone should be giving to anybody on the land Or marches. You are right about on the land program, its a total waste. A few so called experts taken out out trouble makers , rehabilitation for themselves and their own therapies. Then you have all trouble at lesst away from the community for few hours, only to go on a new tribulation of trouble in near future fron alcohol and drugs, count not what is probably used on the outing. As for pride marches, I caution promoting kids to take such confusion in their lives, especially from screwed up parenting.
I dont lije what has become of the committee and formed groups in Nunavik. Too many people on same boards. You take wellness committees what do they do? They do nothing other thsn a committee met and greet. They should be supporting other committees, giving support as other committees need advice. But no way , they want to compete with whats houng on to maje their own agendas, they are self serving like the rest of the rudderless groups. Not good
Everyone in society should have the same rights regardless of religious affiliation, age, gender, skin color, or cultural background. We need to stop any public segregation based in those. If people want to practice culture or if women want to form a private club, they can. Not in my dime though