Gitanmaax held their first annual pride parade on Friday seeing plenty of support for the LGBTQ2S+ community.
Participants marched from the Gitanmaax Health and Wellness Centre down to the Ksan Campground where they were met with refreshments and a cooling centre to beat the heat.
Gitanmaax is the first indigenous community in the northwest to hold their own pride parade and demonstrated why having indigenous representation in the LGBTQ community as a whole is important.
Julia Sundell is the health director at the Gitanmaax Health and Wellness Centre and she took on the task of organizing the parade after chief and council had asked about putting on an event to recognize pride month in June.
However, some unexpected community events caused the parade to be delayed until July but did not curb their drive to make this happen.
Sundell talked about holding the parade as way to show those in Gitanmaax and surrounding villages that they have a safe space to express themselves how they wish to.
Collective support is crucial to indigenous communities which was apparent in the number of people who showed up for the walk.
Jordan Wilson, a two spirit person who spoke at the opening of the event, talked about their experiences and why this event meant so much to them.
Wilson explained that when they had started de-colonizing and reading about their history, they had recognized themselves as two spirit, something that has long been left out of conversations surrounding gender identity.
Being able to talk about their two spirit identity, Wilson felt validated by their community, and they hope that this event makes way for more LGBTQ2S+ youth to be themselves.
Wilson said of seeing so many residents participating, “I feel like, to know that there’s even more support behind that is going to allow the youth to blossom in their own way that they deserve to”.
Support didn’t end with the participants though, on the walk to the campground, many passersby in vehicles honked and waved, and people in their homes on the route stood outside to capture the moment.
Gitanmaax hopes to make the pride parade an annual occurrence and encourage people from other surrounding communities to get involved.
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