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QuAIA registers to march in Pride parade

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid is one step closer to marching in the 2012 Pride Parade. In a move that could test Pride Toronto’s new dispute resolution process, the Palestine solidarity group filed its parade registration on Wednesday, according to a spokesperson.

Last year, QuAIA bowed out of Pride after Mayor Rob Ford joined several councillors in threatening to pull city money for the entire festival if the organization was allowed to participate. A similar, but less heated, controversy is simmering this year, with council set to debate a $124,000 grant to Pride next week.

QuAIA spokesperson Tony Souza says the organization decided to march this year because a report from the city manager determined that the use of the phrase “Israeli apartheid” does not violate the city’s anti-discrimination policy.

“Our feeling is, we’re marching in Pride, we have a right to march in Pride,” says Souza. “The city [manager]’s report is pretty clear. So there really is no reason for us not to march.”

Souza describes efforts to defund Pride over QuAIA’s involvement as “an attack on the queer community in Toronto, and our right to free speech,” but says that his group will abide by Pride Toronto’s dispute resolution process if a formal complaint is lodged.

That arbitration process has never been used, and was set up last year following the QuAIA controversy to decide whether disputed groups should be allowed to take part in the LGBTQ festival.

If a complaint were made against QuAIA, it would be referred to a roster of 16 legal and arbitration experts made up mostly of prominent lawyers and human rights professionals. The pool of dispute officers, who are all volunteers, include Raja Khouri, a current Ontario human rights commissioner and the co-founder of the Canadian Arab-Jewish Leadership Dialogue Group, as well as Maurice Green, former Canadian president of the New Israel Fund.

The complaint would be considered by a single dispute officer or, if the complainant requests, a three-member panel. The randomly-selected dispute officers would then review the complaint to determine whether the disputed group violates Pride policy and any applicable legislation, and would then make a ruling that would be binding for both parties.

Douglas Elliot, a well-known class action litigator at Roy Elliott O’Connor LLP, chairs the dispute resolution group. He says that although the process is untested, Pride’s arbitration guidelines and the experts involved ensure that any complaint would be dealt with fairly.

“We are in a learning environment here, but we are committed to a fair, independent, and transparent process,” he says.

Pride is releasing its full list of registered participants next week, and if anyone hopes to have QuAIA excluded, they will have to act quickly. The arbitration process is expected to take between 30 – 45 days, and the parade is on July 1.

Elliot says that if a complaint is filed next week he will do what he can to speed up the process but can make no guarantees it would completed before the parade. He has already contacted members of the arbitration group and says several are available to hear complaints immediately.

“I intend to do anything that’s within my power to move the system along as quickly as possible,” he says.

But QuAIA’s critics may decide to bypass the complaints process altogether. Councillor James Pasternak has been leading the charge against the pro-Palestine group, which he believes promotes hate against Israel, and in a press release last month urged Pride Toronto to reject its application outright.

Pasternak could move a motion at council next week to withhold the money until after the parade on the condition QuAIA does not march.

The councillor was not immediately available for comment due to a recent death in the family.

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