The activist group Queers Against Israeli Apartheid plans to return to the Pride parade this summer, raising the possibility of another battle over whether to provide city money to the major gay festival.

The group, also known as QuAIA, skipped Pride last year to deny Mayor Rob Ford what it called a “pretext” to withdraw the city’s grant.

“We decided we didn’t want to be the scapegoat for Pride not getting funding from the city. But this year, we feel, well, it’s time to go back,” QuAIA member Tony Souza said Tuesday. “We are a queer group in the city. It so happens that the issue we’re talking about is controversial, but that doesn’t mean that the work that we do, which is basically for justice for people, should not be celebrated.”

City officials have recommended that council give Pride $123,807. That would amount to about 8 per cent of the festival’s $1.6 million budget, co-chair Francisco Alvarez said.

The Pride festival, to be held June 22 to July 1, will publish a list of groups in early June that have registered to participate. If a resident then submits a complaint about QuAIA to the festival’s dispute resolution body, as is likely, a panel of legal experts will render a final decision on whether it can march.

In 2010, council asked city manager Joe Pennachetti to decide whether QuAIA contravenes the city’s anti-discrimination policy. He concluded that it does not, saying “there is no legal precedent” to suggest the phase “Israeli apartheid” constitutes a hate crime or a violation of the provincial human rights code.

But Canada’s major Jewish groups consider the implicit comparison of Israel to apartheid South Africa both odious and inaccurate.

“The funding decision is the city’s itself,” said Howard English, senior vice-president of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “None of us here at CIJA are members of council. We don’t have a vote. But we certainly hope that in making its decision, council keeps in mind the hateful nature of QuAIA’s messaging and the extent to which it’s divorced from the reality of public opinion among the people of Toronto.”

In March 2011, Ford told the Canadian Jewish News that “taxpayer dollars should not go toward funding hate speech.” His spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

Council voted in June 2011 to have the city revise the anti- discrimination policy, but no changes have been brought forward to date. Souza said Pennachetti’s conclusion that QuAIA satisfies the existing policy should prevent council from denying funding to Pride on the basis of the group’s participation.

“They can’t do that. Because the city manager’s report is very clear that we are not a hate group. You cannot discriminate against us on the basis of what we do,” he said.

James Pasternak, who is Jewish and one of QuAIA’s most vocal critics on city council, spoke more cautiously on Tuesday than he did last year.

“We would hope that Pride says no to bullying and demonization and yes to respect and tolerance,” he said. But he would not commit to asking council to withhold the funding if QuAIA is allowed to march. (© Copyright Toronto Star 1996-2012 05/15/12)