Protests clash at Culture Days event in Saskatoon

A clash between two protests has some people talking in Saskatoon this week, but the Nutrien Wonderhub, where the protests happened, wants to keep the focus on the success of the event in question.

On Sunday, as part of its Culture Days programming, the Wonderhub held a Reading with Royalty event where a drag queen read to children.

Anne Neufeld, interim CEO of the Wonderhub, said the focus of the event was on literacy and diversity, supported by their partners at YXE Drag Collective.

“We’ve had a longstanding partnership with the collective and we’ve hosted previous events with them,” Neufeld said.

“Those events didn’t garner the same attention that this one did.”

Speaking to CKOM/CJME’s John Gormley on Friday, Neufeld said attendance far exceeded expectations, with more than 240 adults and children on hand for the event. She said a lot of families were clearly interested, but said organizers know it’s not for everyone and other families will choose not to participate.

The controversy happened when a small group decided to protest the event outside the Wonderhub. A much larger group of counter-protesters also showed up, but to voice their support for the event.

The protests clashed with each other, and a woman’s sign was allegedly stolen by a counter-protester, taken into the museum and left with front desk staff. The woman who brought the sign claimed that when she asked for it back, the staff denied they had it.

Neufeld said the sign was later given back when management realized what had happened, but she also wanted to keep the focus of the day on the event and not let the incidents outside overshadow things.

“I was aware that these types of situations developed. That certainly wasn’t our intention. It was a very busy day at the museum, and our visitor experience team was focusing on doing their job of getting people into the museum,” said Neufeld.

She was unwilling to discuss how management address the situation with staff.