'They need this protection': Trudeau gov't re-offers $1.5M for enhanced Pride security in Canada

For the second year, the federal government is offering up to $1.5M to Pride organizations across the country to fund enhanced security measures, amid a continued rise in anti-LGBTQ2S+ hate.

For the second year, the federal government is offering up to $1.5M to Pride organizations across the country to fund enhanced security measures, amid a continued rise in anti-LGBTQ2S+ hate.

Pride organizations will be able to use this funding to offset increasing costs for event insurance, additional security and emergency planning resources, as well as training for staff and volunteers.

Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien announced the re-offering of funding on Monday at the Pride flag raising on Parliament Hill.

"This should give us great pause," Ien said, backed by LGBTQ2S+ parliamentarians of various political stripes, as well as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"These are not the kinds of funding announcements that we want to make ever, but we need to make them, because communities have been clear they need this protection. Hatred is on the rise."

The raising of the Pride flag is a gesture that has become an annual tradition over the last nine years, under the Liberal government.

In his remarks noting the kickoff to Pride month, Trudeau spoke about how progress on LGBTQ2S+ rights, once thought to be "locked in," are now being challenged by some politicians' efforts to undermine them, such as the ability for transgender youth to access gender-affirming care.