Calgary’s Chief of Police Roger Chaffin issued a formal apology to gender and sexually diverse Calgarians on Friday morning for actions that contributed to the marginalization of the LGBTQ2S+ community in the past.

Chaffin read a formal apology at a news conference from police headquarters at 10:30 a.m. and it was also shared on the service’s social media accounts.

Last November, the Prime Minister apologized to Canadians for the ‘past criminalization and systematic oppression’ that members of the community faced from the government and Calgary police say they want to acknowledge and apologize for their role.

“As police officers we swear an oath to uphold the laws of the land, regardless of our personal beliefs about those laws. However, we have learned through our history that we can fulfill our duty with far more compassion and respect than we have shown gender and sexually diverse Calgarians in the past,” said Chaffin as he read from the statement.

Chaffin said that the service’s culture contributed to the marginalization of the gender and sexually diverse community, before the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1969, instead of offering support.

He went on to say that the way some things were handled by the service in the past would be done differently today.

“Our slow transition towards inclusivity, equality and diversity had many missteps along the way, including not issuing a permit for the Pride Parade in the 1980s, showing little commitment to building a relationship with the gender and sexually diverse community until the late 1990s and not fully considering the impacts the 2002 Goliath Bathhouse raid would have on the community.”

The chief said officers and the service’s executive are provided with training so they understand the issues and can lead the conversation.

“Understanding this community is incredibly important and getting it accurate is important. So the education that we’re going to commit to, that we’ve committed to already and that we’re going to evolve in the iteration of our service will be important for how we lead and how we lead our younger members as well,” he said.

He says the service has been meeting with the LGBTQ2S+ community to discuss their concerns and improve relationships and that the sessions revealed that some have a mistrust and fear of police based on past dealings.

“The most topical items come up around Pride, around why police are in or why they not in but largely as we work with our advisory council and our communities, it became necessary to understand that we have history. We have a culture and a history that led us to where we are and using the words ‘I’m sorry’ can be meaningful for an institution like policing to come forward and say there are things we could have done better in the past and we are evolving into the future and we want to make sure, we can’t move forward until we’ve at least acknowledged the past to say that’s something that we could have done better,” he said. “You have to understand the importance that policing plays in the community and people’s sense of justice and fairness and as an institution, like us, to come out and say we’re sorry isn’t a gift it’s an understanding of our responsibility to acknowledge our communities and actually earn the trust with our communities as diverse as they can be."

He says the decision on whether officers will take part in future Pride parades will likely be made later this year.

To view the statement click HERE.