Thousands marched, danced and sang in Vancouver's 39th annual Pride Parade Sunday while hundreds of thousands watched.
Smoke from the wildfire's raging in B.C.'s Interior still hung over the city, but that didn't stop the revelry.
"I'm a little bit excited about the overcast because it is hot for a drag queen at 12 O'clock in the afternoon," said Conni Smudge, the parade emcee.
John Horgan has walked in Vancouver's Pride Parade before, but this was his first time doing so as the province's premier.
"We have to stamp out the discrimination that affects too many people's lives. This is a message to all Canadians and all British Columbians that we stand together with everyone included in our society," he told CTV News.
Vancouver police joined other first responders in this year's parade, despite calls from some community groups to bar uniformed officers from the parade.
Black Lives Matter Vancouver was one group that argued people of colour might feel ill at ease in the Pride Parade in the presence of uniformed officers.
Toronto, a city that also has a vibrant Pride Parade, removed uniformed officers from its festivities this year. While Vancouver didn't go that far, some officers opted to march in plainclothes.
"Nothing is going to stop us girl," emcee Smudge told CTV. "We've been doing this for 39 years. It started as a protest, and now, my people [it's] a celebration."
With a report from CTV Vancouver's Breanna Karstens-Smith.
