Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a Pride flag raising event on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, June 8, 2023. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says children who do not see a Pride flag raised at their schools should know one is flying for them on Parliament Hill. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says children who do not see a Pride flag at their schools should know one is flying for them on Parliament Hill.
Trudeau hoisted the flag that celebrates the LGBTQ community today at an event where he was joined by MPs from all political parties, marking the eighth time he has done so since being elected to power in 2015.
The prime minister echoed other speakers in condemning the sharp rise in laws curtailing the rights of transgender people across the United States, warning that similar sentiments exist in Canada.
Trudeau says when the Liberals first raised the Pride flag in 2016, he thought it would become easier to do so over the years, but has since been reminded that “hatred still has a very loud voice.”
He says Canadians have watched as people try to remove books about gender and sexuality in schools, which he says is cruel to children who struggle with questions about their identities or live in homes where such questions are not met with love.
The prime minister says children are often the ones fighting to see a Pride flag raised at their schools, which in some places have been denied.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023.
