Flag-raising debate continues leading up to Remembrance Day

The Royal Canadian Legion is recommending local branches stick to protocol on Remembrance Day when it comes to Canadian flags.

Ceremonies typically begin with the flags raised before they’re lowered during the Remembrance Day service. After the ceremony ends, local branches are being given a choice.

“At sunset after Remembrance Day has happened, the flags can remain lowered if they so choose, in remembrance of our First Nations friends or they can choose to raise them again,” said Nujma Bond, the communications manager with the Royal Canadian Legion National Headquarters.

Flags at all federal buildings and establishments across Canada have been flying at half mast since May 30 following the discovery of the remains of 215 children at the site of a former residential school in Kamloops, B.C.

Bond told Gormley the legion understands this is an unusual and unique time and it respects the Government of Canada’s decisions on when the flags are raised or lowered.

She explained there was a lot of discussion on what to do on Remembrance Day and the legion decided it’s very important to follow its own protocol.

“That means that the Remembrance Day ceremonies should begin with the flags fully hoisted and then lowered in remembrance and respect to all of our fallen veterans from all backgrounds,” said Bond.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the possibility of raising flags at federal buildings and on the Peace Tower in Ottawa, in order to lower them again for Remembrance Day.

“We continue to work very closely with partners, with Indigenous peoples, with communities across the country. There is an understanding of how important it is to be able to lower the flags on Remembrance Day to mark our veterans, to mark people, including Indigenous peoples, who’ve stepped up to fight for Canadian values and paid the ultimate sacrifice,” Trudeau told reporters at the COP26 Summit in Glasgow on Tuesday.

Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand’s feelings are torn on the matter.

Arcand’s great-grandfather and all nine of his siblings fought in the Second World War.

While Arcand wants to see Canadian flags fly high on Remembrance Day, he understands why flags would return to half mast. He also understands the gesture grows hollow with each passing day.

“It’s just a good gesture for me. Where’s the impact or the action behind that gesture?” Arcand said.  “I look at what we’ve got to do besides a good gesture, which is just lowering flags to half mast.”

Arcand wants to see the trauma and lasting impact of residential schools addressed.

“We talk about the lack of investment from the federal government to address all these issues of residential schools and unmarked graves,” he said. “There’s an obligation here and an investment that has to be done.”

Arcand highlighted “investment of trauma” as a missing component from Ottawa.

He pointed to mental health, addictions, poverty and homelessness as a growing concern that can be traced back to residential schools.

“When you put the flags at half mast, does that solve our problem? No. That investment needs to be taken seriously because at the end of the day, it does not provide a quality of life for Indigenous people,” he said.

“We didn’t do this to ourselves. It was forced upon us to take (away) our culture, our language, our identity, and we see cause and effects in 2021.”