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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the first sitting Canadian prime minister to march in the Toronto Pride Parade Sunday, an accomplishment he says “shouldn’t be a big thing.”
“For me, it is just another great Pride celebration. I’ve been coming to this for years and it’s sort of frustrating that it has to be a big thing,” he told CP24 at the parade Sunday.
“It shouldn’t be a big thing that the prime minister is walking in the Pride Parade and from now on, it won’t.”
Trudeau, Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Tory are all marching in this year’s parade, marking the first time leaders from all three levels of government have participated in the event together.
When asked about how far Canadians have come to advance LGBT rights, Trudeau said there has been a lot of progress.
“We owe a tremendous amount to everyone who has been fighting to get to the day we are today but we have a lot more work to do,” he said.
“We still have to get our trans rights bill passed through Parliament and the Senate. We still have to work on a broad range of things but what we are seeing here is not just projecting across the country but around the world and it is an important message.”
Trudeau also discussed new Ontario identification cards that are more inclusive to the transgender community.
“It is something we are looking at federally,” he said.
“We are trying to figure out the best way to actually getting around to doing it. We are looking at other jurisdictions.”
The parade, which began at 2 p.m., has attracted thousands of people to the downtown core and marks the end of month-long Pride celebrations across the city.
