The Westlock Community Foundation hosted a screening of Pride vs. Prejudice: The Delwin Vriend Story at the CATS theatre on June 24.
A dozen of residents came to the theatre located in R.F. Staples School to watch a documentary on one of the biggest queer stories to come out of Alberta that changed Canadian history forever.
The documentary was made in conjunction with the Edmonton Queer History Project and the Edmonton Community Foundation.
“It's important to show this film because it demonstrates the need for continuing the conversation around the rights of LGBTQ2SI+ community members, as well as to show the resiliency of people that identify within that community and that it doesn't matter how much hate bubbles up in the world nobody's going to be able to silence them," said Katie Robertson, the executive director of the foundation.
Directed by Darrin Hagen, the story of Delwin Vriend is one that many queer people will already know. In 1991, Vriend was fired from The King’s College (now known as The King’s University) for his sexual orientation.
Vriend had filed a complaint against the college with the Alberta Human Rights Commission where he was informed that they would not be investigating the case because sexual orientation was not protected under the province’s human rights code.
Vriend worked with countless lawyers and agencies over his seven-year fight with the province of Alberta to recognize sexual orientation as a protected right against discrimination. The case was taken to the Supreme Court of Canada where Vriends lawyer Sheila Greckol would argue that it should be included in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms section 15 which guaranteed the right to equality and protects against discrimination alongside race, gender and religion.
On April 2, 1998, all members of the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Vriend that the provincial governments could not exclude sexual orientation from the human rights legislation. They also decided to read in sexual orientation to the charter where other discriminatory outlines were to emphasize the ruling.
Despite pushback from Alberta citizens and religious institutions who lobbied for the province to invoke the notwithstanding clause to overrule the decision, they elected to not enact it.
Vriend's story and the case against Alberta have been cited in many same-sex discrimination cases across the country. As well, it serves as a reminder of the horrors and humiliations the LGBTQIA+ community has gone through and how they continue to fight for a seat at the table.
After the screening, the Human Rights Commission was available for questions and to provide information on human rights in the province.
Robertson talked about the importance of showing this documentary to the public. "It demonstrates the need for continuing the conversation around the rights of the LGBTQ2SI+ community members.”
The Westlock Community Foundation is a dedicated space for anyone to feel like they belong and inspire people to be their true, authentic selves, Robertson said.
"Any way that we can support the community in amplifying voices that have typically been silenced and empowering people to make a better impact on the community and the development of the community and supporting inclusion, that's something that we definitely want to get behind.”
