While the rest of North America does Pride in June, Montreal’s Pride festivities hold out for the back half of summer. Part scheduling quirk, part stubbornness, it turns days at the tail end of the season into the biggest 2SLGBTQIA+ gathering in the French-speaking world. This year is special as, from July 31 to August 9, Fierté Montréal turns 20. And it arrives at that milestone having just survived the hardest stretch of its life.
Over the past two years, the festival lost the trust of a large part of the communities it claims to represent. In 2025, roughly 20 queer groups cut ties, accusing Fierté of (among other pointed critiques) drifting toward corporate spectacle and away from the people—particularly racialized and Sapphic members—it was meant to serve. A grassroots alternative, Wild Pride, sprang up in protest.
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