Events around the dyke march cancellation (eng)

This statement is to give context and transparency to the Dyke community about the events that led to and followed the cancellation of the Dyke March scheduled for June 28, 2026.

 

This statement is not a call for cancellation. The purpose of naming members of the group in this statement is to inform the community clearly about these people's actions. We have been advised that these are allegedly repeated patterns of actions and behaviour by these people that we believe the community needs to be made aware of in the hopes of keeping them accountable in the future. This is not being done to incite harassment or harm for anyone, but rather to initiate a process of repair and accountability, and create an open dialogue where private call ins have not been sufficient.

 

This year, the Dyke March was made up of three separately organized events: the Dyke March, the Dyke March Market, and the Afterparty. A group chat was created for the organizers from all three events to communicate with each other.

 

On June 20, TJ, the market organizer, brought concerns to the organizers’ group chat of serious allegations they received the day before against a Disabled Brown vendor who is part of a collective (who will be referred to as ‘the Vendor” and “the Collective” from here on) that was meant to fundraise at the market in direct support of Palestinian families.

 

Based on limited information, the team responded in support of excluding the Vendor and the Collective from the market. Very quickly after bringing us the allegations, TJ told the Collective that they would not be allowed to participate and left no room for discussion. The way TJ engaged with the collective was racist, punitive and showed no concern for the Palestinian families they support. As an organizing team, we responded too quickly and punitively, enforcing a racist framework on a racialised community member not leaving any space to discuss the allegations made nor their context. Organizers discussed supporting "other Palestine initiatives," unaware that there were specific families supported by the Collective that would be harmed, reducing the Collective to a symbolic presence.

 

The Collective proposed alternatives, mentioning they would have liked for this to be a discussion, including having another member attend the market. These proposals were not considered because the organizing team did not want to be associated with the Collective. Due to the cold approach TJ was taking in their interactions with the Collective, the Collective reached out to Céleste for her help. Céleste reached out to other Brown organizers not affiliated with the Dyke March who spent multiple hours explaining to her how our approach was harmful and trying to talk her down from publicly cancelling the Vendor. She then engaged in a conversation with the Vendor, mediated by those outside organizers, to understand more about the situation. None of the info that came out of these discussions made its way to the rest of the organising team.

 

Simultaneously, the vendor’s group chat asked for information, and TJ shared the allegations openly in a message part of the team had approved while other Dyke March organizers were still discussing how to proceed. Serious, unverified allegations were then shared in a group chat of 30+ other vendors. A message was also drafted and approved by part of the team to respond to private messages asking us for information. The message painted the Brown vendor as dangerous and uncollaborative.

 

After all of her discussions, Céleste was added to the market vendors’ group chat and made an apology, saying our decision was racist and carceral and affirming she was taking steps with us to right the situation. Many conversations followed where Black and Brown vendors who voiced feeling tokenised and disposable to white organisers, spent time and labor helping her realise the harm that had occurred and drafting possible paths toward repair. None of this was communicated to the rest of the organizing team. At this stage, TJ and Céleste were the only members of the organizing team with access to the vendors' chat.

 

Organizers kept asking TJ and Céleste for updates on both the allegations and the vendors' chat. Céleste then sent us a brief voice note saying that she didn’t believe the allegations anymore, then stopped responding to messages. This added more confusion, since before she had told us she did not want the Collective at the market with these allegations, that she would take responsibility for them having been invited, and that she would not change her position on having them removed.

 

The information that was given to us was that the vendors’ chat was heated and that they both did not know how to handle it. The organizing team kept requesting information. One very disabled organizer kept offering their skills in crisis intervention and conflict resolution and was ignored multiple times. TJ argued that the vendors were unwilling to discuss solutions with white organizers and characterized the vendors as angry, aggressive, and bullying. This response was ableist towards the very disabled organizer and racist towards the vendors.

 

Céleste then went back on her previous apology and told the vendors that it wasn't on behalf of the team, but rather herself. She positioned herself as someone attempting to protect vendors from a group of racist organizers. And multiple times told the racialised vendors that we did not care and we were doubling down on being racist. Vendors started requesting responses and accountability from the organizing team, but were ignored by Céleste, who was still not telling the rest of the organizers anything. This went on for a couple of days where she extracted lots of labor out of racialised vendors, including those directly harmed, and provided no steps forward. TJ then informed the team that Céleste was misrepresenting the other organizers. TJ then chose to leave their position once an Arab Dyke March organizer stepped in to help them.

 

It was only in a call with Céleste to help her resolve this that the very disabled organiser was added to the vendors’ chat. After reading it and speaking with one of the Brown vendors harmed by this situation, they were finally able to provide the broader organizing team with an accurate account of what happened.

 

After being called in by the team for perpetuating racism by extracting labour from black and brown organisers and intentionally blocking communication between the organising team and the vendors, Céleste chose to leave the organizing team abruptly. At this point, the very disabled organizer relayed the vendor’s demands which led the organizing team to collectively decide to cancel all activities and focus on repair and accountability work with the harmed vendors. This decision was taken on the Thursday before the march which did not leave us enough time to meaningfully repair the amount of racist harm that occurred before the march happened. We were not willing to have a march where many POC did not feel safe.

 

 

Céleste has threatened legal action for harassment against one vendor who had given hours of emotional and educational labour to help her understand the harm caused. Céleste also requested antifascist security in a separate group chat of more than 400 people, saying this vendor’s attempt to call them in was dangerous. Céleste has so far refused to talk or work with our organizing team or the vendors harmed.

 

TJ was willing to talk to the Collective + another vendor about the harm that occurred, and a meeting between them with a mediator from the organizing team was held to give TJ a chance to revise their public statement and understand their impact. TJ struggled to engage with their actions and focused on guilt, punishment, and centering their white guilt and fragility.

 

The racialized vendors expressed that they are exhausted from repeatedly having to explain basic anti-racist principles and the impacts of carceral responses. This labour has been dehumanizing and exhausting, particularly given that Céleste and TJ are experienced community organizers.

 

Many Dyke march organizers stepped away entirely prioritizing their feelings and schedules over the need for proactive repair and accountability. The very disabled organizer went through more ableism from the team in this whole process as they were/are the middle man but were barely listened to by the team which led to this statement being published so late and caused more impact on the people originally harmed by all this situation.

 

The remaining Dyke March organizers take full responsibility for the racist actions taken toward vendors and our broader community. We advised TJ following a punitive model in the way we discussed these allegations. We strongly denounce the lack of consultation, racist conduct, punitive actions, and the immense amount of labour extracted from racialized vendors throughout this process. We are deeply disappointed by how quickly decisions were made both within our organizing team and in our name.

 

This statement is also not a verdict on any allegations made by or against anyone involved with the 2026 Dyke March. We want to provide transparency, address misinformation, clarify what we are able to say happened, acknowledge the harm experienced by vendors and organizers, and create a foundation for meaningful repair. It is also an acknowledgment of the ways that carceral, racist, and ableist patterns keep being perpetuated in our communities, even in informal, volunteer led settings. We want to create spaces where Black, Brown, Indigenous, and racialized community members can participate without being subject to racism.

 

Right now we have taken the following steps to begin repair:

-Cancelled all 2026 Dyke March activities

-Provided the names of all the organizers to the vendors harmed

-Published this statement to the public

 

Our next steps for repair are:

-Redistribute the cash raised at our fundraiser (that was not refunded by the CSL) to the Black and Brown vendors

-Create a fundraiser for the Palestinian families deprived of income by our actions

-Make a commitment to collaborate with and follow the lead of more Black and Brown organizers going forward to solidify the dyke march stance as anti racist, and anti carceral.

-Create a plan to ensure that similar situations do not occur in the future.

-Seek compensation for the BIPOC vendors labour extracted continuously throughout this process

-Staying in contact with all parties in the hopes of having mediated transformative justice sessions