Canadian organizers cancel Pride march via International Falls to protest Trump

Canadian organizers of a border-crossing Pride march from International Falls into Fort Frances, held since 2018, are canceling the march in protest of the Trump administration.

“The climate created by the current U.S. administration is such that we just don’t feel comfortable encouraging people to cross the border, particularly gender diverse people who may be confronted with uncomfortable questions, or worse, by U.S. border police,” said Douglas Judson, executive director of the organization Borderland Pride.

Judson, a lawyer who lives in Fort Frances, said in a phone interview this week that the decision was made in February to cancel the milelong march over the international toll bridge. He said after President Donald Trump took office, people in his small Ontario community started raising safety concerns about the march.

“Is it safe for me to be in the United States right now? Never mind crossing the border. Is it safe for me to be there if I need to use a public washroom that maybe doesn’t align with how the U.S. government views my gender identity?” Judson said when describing those post-election conversations.

“It’s an understandable concern,“ said Jenell Feller with the International Falls Rotary Club, a key partner for Borderland Pride planning in years past.

Feller said she understands the concerns of her neighbors in Canada.

“Generally in our community we have seen less Canadians,” she said. “And we are just separate sides of the same coin. We are interdependent. … We depend on Fort Frances for some things, and they depend on us for some things."

Borderland’s march, which draws up to 200 people, has been the centerpiece of its Pride celebration in June, when cities around the world host monthlong LGBTQ parties and protests.

The first Pride marches were held a year after the 1969 violent police raid at New York’s Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, and sparked the gay rights movement.

In Minnesota, Pride celebrations span the state, from Mankato and Stillwater to Hastings, Bemidji, St. Cloud and Duluth. The small community of Pine City (pop. 3,000) is considered a pioneer of rural Pride celebration since founding one in 2005. Twin Cities Pride started in Minneapolis in 1972.

For seven years, Borderland Pride brought Canadians into International Falls, who would then march back over the toll bridge with Minnesotans to join festivities in Fort Frances.

Fort Frances and International Falls are like Fargo-Moorhead or the Twin Ports — they often co-sponsor events and celebrate as one community.

But division is apparent since Trump took office. Fewer Canadians are traveling into International Falls. They don’t like his tariffs or rhetoric about Canada becoming the 51st state. The recent decision to cancel the march shows a cultural divide, too, Judson said.

“There’s certainly been an expression of, I think, contempt towards people who are gender diverse from the president and his administration,” he said. “I think it’s increasingly apparent that people who have political views or positions that are at odds with the Trump administration have found themselves in some very difficult situations.”

Judson added that Canadians in general “are very much trying to spend their money closer to home.”

“We’re trying not to cross the border for as many things if we can find substitutes that are closer to home from Canadian suppliers. And all this is a direct result of some of the rhetoric that we’ve heard from the president.”

Feller said Rotary “dropped the ball” on coordinating its own Pride celebrations, because in the past, “we have not had to do our own event.”

After a Rotary meeting Thursday and inquiries from the Minnesota Star Tribune, Feller said they decided to host an event in International Falls at Smokey Bear Park the evening of June 18.

“We want to be supportive of the LGBTQ-plus community in International Falls, and we want to support what they’re doing in Fort Frances,” she said.

Feller said that some folks in International Falls will still walk across the toll bridge over the Rainy River into Fort Frances.

“We believe this is important. It’s important to be an ally,” she said.

The Pride march, entirely in Fort Frances, will take place June 14.