Sunday’s Pride parade marks the grand finale of a week-long festival celebrating 2SLGBTQ+ Pride in Ottawa.
Here’s what you need to know to navigate your day.
Street festival, parade, traffic closures
The parade kicks off at 1 p.m. on Elgin Street, travelling south from Laurier Avenue W. to Gladstone Avenue. It will then turn on Gladstone and continue until it hits Bank Street.
The planned route is about half the length it was last year.
The parade was supposed to take the same path as in 2023, but Capital Pride had to change the route with less than a week’s notice because the Ottawa Police Service did not provide enough officers to guard the entire length.
At the end of the parade, those who aren’t sick of the sun can join the street festival, where local groups, businesses, and artists will be hosting stalls from noon until 8 p.m.
The festival stretches along Bank from Gladstone to Slater Street, with water stations and toilets set up along the way.
Given there’s both a parade and a street festival, expect traffic delays downtown. The city has the complete details on its website.
It’s also worth noting — for anyone planning to come downtown from Ottawa’s east end — that Confederation Line trains won’t run Sunday between St-Laurent and Blair stations due to work on the line’s eastern extension.
Celebrations carry on amid controversy
Sunday’s events are going ahead amid the fallout of Capital Pride’s pro-Palestinian statement earlier this month.
Capital Pride’s letter condemned both the terrorist act committed on Oct. 7 and Israel’s “endless and brutal campaign in Gaza,” which it said is causing the deaths of “innocent Palestinians.”
Some organizations and individuals have criticized Capital Pride’s statement for being “exclusionary” or questioned the safety of the event.
Several have chosen not to march in the parade or attend other events organized by Capital Pride.
But others have reaffirmed their support, including the Ottawa Greens, Centretown Community Health Centre, and 50 other local unions, businesses, and 2SLGBTQ+ groups.