Pride Toronto says some of its major corporate sponsors have pulled support for this year’s festival as the backlash towards diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives intensifies.
In an interview with CityNews on Wednesday, Pride Toronto’s executive director, Kojo Sherwin Modeste, said the festival is facing a $300,000 funding shortfall.
“Since the election in the U.S. and some of the executive orders that came out, we have received notice from a few of our sponsors that there is a shift in direction, and as a result, they will not be coming back as sponsors,” Modeste explained.
He says the operating cost of putting on the annual festival has “increased drastically” since the COVID-19 pandemic and has exceeded the funding received from sponsorships and government grants.
“Every loss, every time we lose a sponsor, has a serious impact on us being able to continue to deliver both the quality and the magnitude of the festival that we put on year after year,” Modeste added.
On the first day of Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States, he signed an executive order titled, “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.”
The directive immediately terminated all policies and activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion, including federal grants and contracts for companies with related programs.
Since then, a string of U.S. tech giants, including Meta, Amazon and Google have scrapped DEI initiatives. The trend has also elicited similar moves from Canadian companies, like Shopify and Molson Coors.
“It is very unfortunate that, rather than bring communities together, folks are taking the opportunity to divide the community,” Modested responded. “But I think this is also an opportunity for our elected folks in Canada to send a very strong message that diversity, equity and inclusion will be part of the agenda.”
Despite losing some sponsors, Pride Toronto says they will return this June to put on their annual festival. However, the funding shortfall has led the organization to cut one of its main stages and a signature event on the Toronto Islands.
The 2025 Pride festival will now focus more heavily on local acts instead of international headliners, which was previously a big draw for foreign tourists.
Modeste refused to name which corporations had pulled their sponsorships. He is holding on to hope that those companies will one day return and figure out a way to work together.
“With or without those sponsors, we will continue,” Modeste said. “We do have many returning sponsors, so I think we will survive the storm.”
