Alberta’s minister of culture and tourism will make history this weekend when he attends the Jasper Pride Festival as the province’s first openly gay cabinet minister and the highest-ranking government official to attend the festival in its seven-year history.
MLA Ricardo Miranda became the province’s first openly gay minister in early February.
He said his attendance at the festival is a great opportunity to promote Jasper’s tourism industry and support the LGBTQ community.
“Being a gay person often in your early years you suffer a lot from isolation,” he said.
“In the larger cities that is less prevalent, but in rural Alberta the sense of isolation is greater. To be a part of our community means also reaching out and letting our friends and our allies know—both in the cities and the rural areas—that people are here to support them, that they are part of a community.”
He said events like the Jasper Pride Festival are an opportunity to not only celebrate the accomplishments of the LGBTQ community, but also a reminder that there is still a lot more work to be done.
“In terms of my role in the weekend’s events as the minister of culture and tourism I’m there to support the community to continue developing and growing the tourism sector in Jasper and doing my best to highlight the great work that is being done in the community in Jasper,” he said.
Jörg Michel, the executive director of the Jasper Pride Festival, said the festival society is honoured to host Miranda.
“It’s a great sign of support for our event,” said Michel. “It’s good for the visibility of the LGBTQ community and it’s good for the visibility of our lovely destination.”
He said the minister’s visit demonstrates the progress the province has made when it comes to LGBTQ rights.
“In terms of him being an openly gay minster it’s a little bit of history. For the first time we have an open cabinet minister in Alberta and I think it shows we’ve come a long way in the last few years.”
This year’s festival coincides with the adoption of new LGBTQ policies for school boards across the province. Trustees from the Grande Yellowhead Public School Division (GYPSD) met on March 16 to finalize the policy and have until March 31 to present it to the minister of education for final consideration.
“I think my government, and every Albertan for that matter, is very much interested in creating safe and inclusive schools for our children so I think it’s important to have that discussion,” said Miranda about the mandatory policies.
As of press time, Miranda’s itinerary was not finalized, but he said he will be in attendance at the official flag raising ceremony on March 17 at 12 noon in front of the Emergency Services Building (518 Geikie Street).
He said he also intends to stay for the entire festival to partake in various activities, including Saturday night's “Alberta Night” where he will hold a key note address. See page 12 for full details.
MP Jim Eglinski and MLA Eric Rosendahl have also confirmed their attendance for the flag raising ceremony.
Paul Clarke
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