Flag raising kicks off Pride Week festivities in Saskatoon

On Monday, two pride flags were raised at City Hall in Saskatoon — and then immediately lowered to half-mast.

Co-chair for Saskatoon Pride, Kasey Atcheynum, explained the significance of the gesture.

“We are gathered here today to do our pride flag-raising,” Atcheynum. “However, it’s important to note that pride is made up of many different communities including BIPOC, two spirit and Indigenous people, which is why you see the flags with more than just the rainbow colours.

“They have been raised to the top level, and then we lowered them to half-mast to show our support and solidarity with the children (from residential schools) who have been found in B.C. and Manitoba in unmarked graves.”

Monday marked the start of the pride celebrations in the city.

Similar to last year, Saskatoon Pride is hosting virtual events to keep everyone safe.

“We don’t want to be that community group that kind of has a major event and then all of a sudden there’s more COVID numbers,” Atcheynum said. “So we are still being safe and keeping our distance.”

Events this week:

Tuesday — Spark Your Pride (online from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.)
Wednesday — Digital Soil and Stories (online at 8 p.m.)
Thursday — Trans Rights & Responses to Anti-Trans Movements (online from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
Friday — Pride at the Drive-In: Hairspray (600 Melville St. at 8:30 p.m.)
Saturday — Saskatoon Virtual Pride Parade (online at 1 p.m.)

The full list of events including web links and tickets can be found here.