U of A celebrates 2026 Pride Week

The University of Alberta’s annual Pride Week kicked off with an opening ceremony in the Myer Horowitz Theatre lobby on March 9. Hundreds of faculty, staff, students, and community members attended the celebration.

The event also featured various drag performances and a pride parade.

Yasmine Abdel Razek, communications and events co-ordinator for the Fyrefly Institute for Gender and Sexual Diversity, offered opening remarks. 

Fyrefly is a non-profit organization and research institute based in the faculty of education that works to support the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. 

“As we gather here today to start Pride Week on our campus, we really hope that you’re reminded of the importance of actions, of allyship, and solidarity,” Abdel Razek said.

Associate professor of women’s and gender studies Lana Whiskeyjack gave a nêhiyaw welcoming to the event.

In her speech, Carrie Smith, vice-provost (access, community and belonging) discussed the practice of hope.

“Hope is the persistence of students, staff, faculty, and researchers who muck on to imagine new possibilities for our world and new ways of pursuing those possibilities. At the U of A, we see this practice of hope every day,” Smith said.

“We see it in the researchers expanding excellence in queer studies and transgender health. We see it in students who organize advocate and care for one another.”

She emphasized the U of A’s commitment to creating a university where “access, community and belonging are futures that we map trajectories onto.”

Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Janis Irwin also offered remarks, speaking about the importance of pride in today’s political climate.

“In the face of rising hate and homophobia and transphobia, there are forces out there that want us to be quiet. There are forces out there that want us to be invisible. We respond with love, and we respond by being gayer and more visible than ever, right?”

Mayor of Edmonton Andrew Knack echoed Irwin’s sentiments about the importance of pride.

“At a time where we see provincially, we see across the world, people looking to silence voices, to remove or to silence that notion of diversity and inclusion, that’s not what we do in Edmonton,” Knack said.

Additionally, Knack proclaimed March 9–14, 2026 U of A Pride Week in Edmonton.