Between April 1, 1942, and March 31, 1943, thirty-seven charges of gross indecency and indecent acts were laid in Alberta, which coincided with Premier Aberhart’s correspondence with the RCMP and enforcement of his Christian fundamentalist principles. This “witch hunt” would correspond with the infamous 1942 same-sex trials , which were the culmination of a coordinated effort between the RCMP and Edmonton Police Service that resulted in the arrest of ten men, nine of whom were convicted at trial. Six of the men served time in jail. The impetus for this investigation was most likely sparked by a 1941 personal ad published in the Edmonton Journal, which simply read, “Young man from Vancouver, wants friends.” Wilfred Collier answered Donald MacCullum’s ad and later admitted they had intimate relations, which resulted in a jail sentence of two years minus a day, for a “single act of consenting intimacy with another adult male in private.” The subsequent police interrogation of MacCullum led to further investigations, including into Donald Sebastien, a teenage male sex worker, who the police coerced into giving testimony implicating others. The theory behind these police investigations was simple: once they could identify someone as a homosexual, that person was, by definition, already a criminal. Personal correspondence such as romantic or erotic letters were often seized as evidence. The homophobia entrenched in both the police investigations and subsequent trials was mirrored both in the highest echelons of the provincial government and in the sensational media coverage the trials received. For example, the Edmonton Journal ran a front-page story highlighting Justice Ives’ claims the accused men were running a “ring of bestiality.” This wasn’t just about moral regulation but also indicative of insidious homophobia and the widespread fear of homosexuality. This kind of moral panic would become a defining feature of police and judicial systems for decades to come, as underscored in the trials of the men arrested in the Pisces Health Spa raid and the case of Vriend v. Alberta.

Not even a private bedroom was safe. In 1955, Edmonton police broke into a house and arrested two men for engaging in same-sex relations. A neighbour is reported to have complained to the police after overhearing their “bestial lovemaking.” James McCurdy and Marvin Friestad were arrested. Friestad was sentenced to a year in prison based on his confession. ,

The year 1969 is memorable for the partial decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada and the birth of the Stonewall Riots in New York City, which occurred in response to ongoing police brutality and the raid of a local community gay bar. While Stonewall is often cited as a spark that ignited the modern LGBTQ2 rights movement, its impact on Canada’s and, in particular, Edmonton’s LGBTQ2 communities, is much harder to trace. Indeed, the early 1970s witnessed Edmonton’s LGBTQ2 community come together more visibly, with the opening of gay bars like Club 70 and with the formation of organizations like Gay Alliance Towards Equality (GATE). Like its counterparts in Vancouver and Toronto, GATE in Edmonton was focused not only on supporting local gays and lesbians but also on educating and advocating amongst the greater population. Edmonton GATE members claimed that police harassment was a significant factor in many people’s decisions to remain closeted.

In December 1977, two young men were arrested when seen kissing in a parked car in Queen Elizabeth Park at 5 a.m. While in police custody, the young men reported being subjected to verbal harassment. The police even called their employers to inform them of the gross indecency charges. Thankfully, neither employer showed much concern.

Moreover, very real fears around police attitudes towards sexual minorities often contributed to victims of gay bashings not coming forward to report the attacks. In 1979, several individuals were beaten up by a group of men around Alberta College as part of the cruising strip known as “The Hill.” In 1980, Craig Morris, a former manager of Audrey’s Books, reported he’d been attacked four times in the last three years. John McNally, a constable with Edmonton Police Service tasked with patrolling the downtown beat, said that gays and lesbians “deserve the same protection anyone else gets, [but] they don’t report it [violence] often enough.” Male sex workers from “The Hill” also reported a rise in violence in the late 1970s and stated, “the police give us no protection from gay-beaters. They protect the women working on 106th street, but if something happens here, it takes forever for the police to show up.”

Canada didn’t have one specific “Stonewall” moment, but many consider the bathhouse raids to have had a similar effect in Canadian cities. Montreal saw action taken against gay baths in 1976 as the city “cleaned up” for the Olympics. Police raided Toronto’s bathhouses in 1981 as part of “Operation Soap,” a metaphor once again linked to moral cleansing. In Edmonton, the Pisces Health Spa was not immune to this trend and was raided by the Edmonton Police Service, with support from the RCMP, on May 30, 1981. Four months prior, the EPS covertly investigated Pisces after a complaint from Fred Griffis, who himself was a gay man. Sheila Greckol, one of the defence attorneys for the charged patrons, was surprised by many of the tactics used by police, including the large number of officers involved (45 EPS and 10 RCMP), the late-night time of the raid, use of video cameras in the investigation, and a lack of regard for the rights of the men arrested, including the absence of legal counsel. The raid pre-dated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but Anne McLellan, then Associate Dean of Law at the University of Alberta, noted that little changed in the legal system after the Charter was adopted; the Charter contained no provision for the rights of gays and lesbians. Philip Knight, a member of the Privacy Defense Committee, which was formed to support those arrested in the Pisces raid, later wondered why the police even bothered to raid the spa. He asked, “What did the raid accomplish other than to cause fear and anger?”

A formal apology from Edmonton Police Service to the LGBTQ2 community wouldn’t happen until 2019. By the time of that apology, the relationship between the police and the LGBTQ2 community had changed significantly from one of persecution to cooperation.

One significant and unanticipated feat the Pisces Health Spa raid accomplished was to galvanize the LGBTQ2 community in an attempt to fight back. The 1970s and 1980s brought an increase in both visibility and advocacy. While part of this stemmed from community mobilization in response to the AIDS crisis (and government denial and inaction), another impetus derived from the ongoing injustices the LGBTQ2 community continued to experience. Edmonton’s LGBTQ2 community had to organize and demand changes to government policies and legislation to counter state and societal oppression. A crucial part of this strategy was accomplished through visibility (e.g., pride events, rallies, and celebrations) and by demanding accountability in the form of community safety and human rights protections. Organizations like GALA, Dignity Edmonton, Metropolitan Community Church, and various sports groups increased their membership and became much more proactive in advocating for LGBTQ2 inclusion and human rights. A vital part of this activism also meant changing the relationship between the LGBTQ2 community and the police.

In 1992, GALA’s activism resulted in the official formation of a “Gay and Lesbian Liaison Committee,” which was the first such committee in the history of the Edmonton Police Service. The increased visibility of the LGBTQ2 community that accompanied the growth of Edmonton’s pride parades in the early 1990s necessitated the development of a closer and ongoing relationship with the police service. GALA’s Liz Massiah noted how "this committee is a recognition that we deserve equality, not only when we're working within the police service, but also when we have concerns particular to our community." The newly created police liaison committee was initially comprised of three LGBTQ2 community members and two EPS officers, Staff Sergeant Joe Rodgers and Constable Cathy Johnson. The committee's purpose was to address ongoing harassment and help de-escalate other issues affecting the LGBQT2 community. The committee was also designed to ensure that “homosexuality will not be used as a barrier to advancement” within the police service. An informal committee had been meeting for a year before the formal creation of the liaison committee. It had already identified several issues of concern, including the need to address “systemic barriers in the recruiting and promotion of homosexual officers.”

Edmonton was only the third city in Canada to establish a formal gay and lesbian police liaison committee. Similar groups had been formed in Toronto and Montreal, both of which had also experienced bathhouse raids in the early 1980s. Edmonton’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Committee was designed to be proactive and not only focus on historical misdeeds but also issues of current and future concern. The need for such a focus had never been more apparent. In the fall of 1992, six men had been arrested as part of an undercover operation in Victoria Park and Government House Park. These areas had long been known as public cruising grounds for gay, bisexual, and closeted men. Brenda Spielman, a spokesperson for the Edmonton Police Service, said the investigation was launched after complaints about “indecent acts” occurring in the wooded park areas. She said attempts had been made to curtail the issues, including pamphlets distributed on cars and increased patrols, but undercover officers were sent in when alleged incidents continued to happen. These officers reported having their groins fondled, and charges of sexual assault were laid. City Councillor Michael Phair expressed his concern over the fact that there had been no prior consultation with the LGBTQ2 community before the operation had begun. Just as with the Pisces Health Spa raid, the question was raised: what were the police trying to achieve? Answering this question and others was one of the main reasons why the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Committee was created.

Over its first few years in existence, the police liaison committee quickly grew to include twelve members. Superintendent Colin Vann emphasized the need for increased empathy regarding hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ2 community when the downtown police headquarters became home to a unique art installation depicting gay bashing. The painting was part of a larger project that had installations at Latitude 53 and some local hospitals . Spencer Harrison, the artist, suggested that “in our society, especially within Alberta, it's more acceptable to be a gay-basher than it is to be a gay person” and hoped his artwork would help illustrate this to the police service.

In 1999, with support from the liaison committee, the EPS launched an anti-gay bashing campaign, which featured posters stating, “Being gay is not a crime. Gay-bashing is.” The campaign included 180 posters on about one-quarter of all city buses and was supported by $1,000 in donations to fund the campaign. Fred Dicker, the co-chair of the liaison committee, stated he hoped the campaign would “give some people pause to think about their prejudices and prompt others to report assaults.”

The liaison committee also played a vital role in keeping the police focused on issues affecting Edmonton’s LGBTQ2 communities, even at times when the tone coming from the provincial government was very different. In 2005, with the national discourse surrounding marriage equality at its peak, and the provincial discourse from the Klein government expressing strong opposition (including threats of using the Charter’s Notwithstanding clause), this entrenched political homophobia did what it always does: gave the green light for homophobes to attack. During the 2005 Pride festival, an increase in gay bashing incidents was investigated by the newly created hate crimes unit.

The EPS Hate and Bias Crime Unit included Constable Stephen Camp, one of the Unit’s co-founders, who came up with a unique way for police recruits to experience firsthand the type of attitudes and biases that LGBTQ2 Edmontonians faced every day. Volunteer male recruits were asked to walk down Whyte Avenue doing one simple yet radical act—holding each other’s hands. These recruits reported feeling unsafe and afraid. This activity was an innovative way for these future police officers to make an emotional connection to what so many LGBTQ2 people experienced on the streets of Edmonton every day . This “sensitivity” training was so successful that a story ran in The Advocate magazine, and the Atlanta Police Service adopted the exercise as part of its training program.

Over the years, the police liaison committee would include many local LGBTQ2 community activists and advocates such as Murray Billett, Fred Dicker, Liz Massiah, Rob Wells, Steven Townsend, Candas Dorsey, Pam and Karen Hoffman, Kristopher Wells, Chevi Rabbit, and Marni Panas. One of the committee's key goals was to promote open dialogue and build bridges between the police and the LGBTQ2 community, and one of those key bridges involved the Pride parade. Police presence at Pride festivities had long been a necessary reality. In the early years, police were there to help de-escalate any situations between protesters and parade participants. In later years, as the parade grew, their presence was required by municipal event guidelines. By the late 2000s, EPS was not just at the parade; they were marching in it, encouraged by their own LGBTQ2 members, including Danielle Campbell, who was the first out LGBTQ2 officer to march in uniform. EPS members also participated in the “Gay Cup,” which was an annual Pride softball game against members of the LGBTQ2 community.

The EPS viewed participation in Pride as a way to strengthen the relationship with the communities it served. Activities included hosting the Edmonton Police Chief’s Pride Reception, which the liaison committee sponsored to help build relationships of trust and respect within the LGBTQ2 community. In 2009, Chief Michael J. Boyd received the inaugural Sexual Minorities Liaison Committee Pride Award in recognition of his efforts to help build a more LGBTQ2-inclusive and responsive police service.

Danielle Campbell was the first openly LGBTQ2 recruit in the history of the Edmonton Police Service when she applied and was accepted on June 5, 1989. However, the EPS made Campbell undergo two additional steps before being hired. First, she was required to undertake a psychological assessment with a psychiatrist, which was in addition to the standard written psychological test all recruits had to take. The second requirement was an in-person meeting with a senior officer who required Campbell to pray with him. Campbell would go on to have a lengthy and successful career, including serving as Deputy Chief.

Campbell’s courage and perseverance helped pave the way for many other LGBTQ2 police officers to apply and find success as members of the Edmonton Police Service. Notably, the EPS became one of the first police services in Canada to openly welcome transgender members in its ranks.

Another historical moment occurred in 2004 when Murray Billett was appointed to the Edmonton Police Commission. Billett had previously been involved with GALA and the early days of the gay and lesbian police liaison committee. This community work made him a natural appointee. There, he could advocate for a more robust police response to hate crimes to protect minority communities. When he left the police commission in 2009, it was with a sense that some things still needed to change, including better handling of calls involving people with mental health and addiction issues, as well as more credible civilian oversight.

While some saw the participation of the police in Pride as a sign of progress, this wasn’t a universal sentiment. In Edmonton, like other cities, cries went out to minimize or entirely remove police participation from the Pride festival. A 2017 ban on uniforms in Toronto’s Pride parade was mirrored in Edmonton’s 2018 Pride festivities. Plain-clothes officers still participated, a step which Superintendent Brad Doucette cited as “an excellent opportunity for our members and the community to continue building and strengthening relationships without the barrier that the uniform sometimes represents.” Police vehicles, lights, and sirens had been banned the year previously. After a protest disrupted the 2018 parade, the Edmonton Police Service withdrew its participation, citing the need to respect the community's wishes. In the end, the 2019 Pride parade was cancelled by the Edmonton Pride Festival Society, along with all other planned events. Other contested issues included increasing corporate sponsorship and the lack of participation from trans and racialized groups in Pride planning and activities.

Clearly, much important work remains to be accomplished. Today, after a more than 25-year partnership with the police service, Edmonton’s Sexual and Gender Minorities Community Liaison Committee continues to help promote dialogue, support training, and build mutual trust and respect between the police and the LGBTQ2 community.