Pride Toronto (PT) announced on September the names of those who will stand for election at its AGM. The list includes six new faces, plus two board members looking to take on more responsibility. PT has announced three vacancies on the board.
Last week, the Pride Coalition for Free Speech and Xtra held a public meeting for people who wanted to join the board. Four of the six applicants -- David Demchuk, Martin Kuplens-Ewart, Roy Mitchell and Mark Smith -- discussed a range of issues facing the organization, from deficits to free expression. A video of the meeting is available online.
PT's announcement, therefore, contained few surprises, other than two additional candidates -- Sebou Mirzayan and Evan Dean.
Dean is a former candidate for city council in gaybourhood-area Ward 27. During a June election debate, he told audiences that he thought PT had acted appropriately in censoring the term "Israeli apartheid."
“I support what Pride has done. You can’t ask an organization to put its own funding at risk,” Dean said at the time.
PT's AGM will be held Sept 23 at 6:30pm at the Church St School, 83 Alexander St (at Church).
Evan Dean at a Ward 27 debate in June (top)
Roy Mitchell at The People's Gala (bottom)
Here is the full list of nominations:
Female co-chair
- Selma d'Souza (already a board member)
Male co-chair
- Francisco Alvarez (already a board member)
- David Demchuk
- Roy Mitchell
Director
- Evan Dean
- David Demchuk
- Roy Mitchell
- Martin Kuplens-Ewart
- Sebou Mirzayan
- Mark Smith
