'love is love': brianne jenner named capital pride grand marshal
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team captain brianne jenner skates with the puck during the 2026 playoffs. jenner was named the grand marshal of this year's capital pride parade.
shane francescut photography
before beginning the next chapter of her hockey career, former charge captain brianne jenner will help lead one more celebration in ottawa as grand marshal of this year’s capital pride parade.
capital pride announced friday that the olympic gold medallist and canadian women’s hockey star will lead the aug. 30 parade, which begins at 1 p.m. from the intersection of booth and wellington streets.
“i think pride is something that is so important in our communities and so important, especially for young members of our community to see,” jenner told the ottawa citizen. “to be asked to be a part of it, to be grand marshal, it felt like a huge honour.”
jenner said leading the pride parade carries special meaning as a member of the lgbtq+ community and as a parent.
“i feel so proud of my family,” she said. “families can look many different ways, but as we often say, love is love.”
she said she hopes leading the parade will also help teach her children why pride matters.
“i think it’s a wonderful thing for me to expose my children to as well, for them to understand what pride is, why pride is important.”
jenner, 35, said she and her family still live in ottawa but will move to hamilton this fall after she signed with the pwhl expansion team there in june. while the parade will mark her final summer living in the capital, she hopes it won’t be a final goodbye.
“i certainly hope it’s not my final farewell,” jenner said. “ottawa has meant a lot to our family.”
looking back on the move that brought her to ottawa three years ago, jenner said she never expected how connected her family would become to the city.
“we could have never predicted how wonderful those three years would be, how the fans embraced our league and our team and myself,” she said.
“my wife joked that we’ve just made too many good friends here. above all, it’s just gratitude that hockey brought us to this great city.”
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capital pride executive director callie metler said the organization wanted to recognize jenner’s impact on ottawa before she moves to hamilton.
“we’re just so excited to be giving her this important sendoff after a wonderful season and all of her hard work and support in introducing the pwhl to ottawa,” metler said.
jenner became one of the faces of professional women’s hockey in ottawa after signing with the charge as one of the pwhl’s first players in 2023. she served as the franchise’s first captain, finished her ottawa career as the team’s all-time leading scorer and helped lead the charge to two walter cup final appearances.
off the ice, she also became known for her work with the capital city condors, an adaptive hockey program for athletes with special needs.
this year’s parade will begin at booth and wellington streets, a new starting location after construction near city hall prompted capital pride to change the route, metler said.
while the full map has not yet been released, the parade will travel east along wellington street before turning onto bank street and ending near bank and slater.
the new starting location will give organizers more room to stage the parade and better access to amenities such as water stations, she said.
capital pride’s 2026 theme is ‘together, we shine,’ and registration to march in the parade remains open until july 24.
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