Canadian Flag Can Be Raised If ‘every Child Matters’ One Flown Too: AFN

The Assembly of First Nations has reached agreement on the conditions it believes should be met in order to raise the Canadian flag ahead of Remembrance Day, says National Chief RoseAnne Archibald.

In a tweet on Friday, she said the group agreed on Thursday that in order to raise the flag, the government should agree to attach to all federal buildings, as well as the Peace Tower, the orange flag used to commemorate Indigenous children lost at residential schools.

That flag should be flown as of Nov. 7 until “all of our children are recovered, named and symbolically or physically returned to their homelands with proper ceremony.”

As well, she said the organization wants to see the Canadian flag lowered to half-mast each year on Nov. 8, which is Indigenous Veterans’ Day.

“We are in agreement that the flag must be raised before Remembrance Day so all Veterans will be honoured when it’s lowered to half-mast on November 11, 2021,” Archibald said.

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READ MORE: Remembrance Day 2021: What will it take to raise the flag?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on May 30 in a tweet that he had ordered the flag on the Peace Tower over Parliament Hill as well as the flags on all federal buildings be lowered to half-mast.

He did so following the discovery of unmarked burial sites found at residential schools, where Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families frequently faced neglect as well as physical and sexual abuse. Thousands are believed to have died at the schools.

The discovery of the unmarked burial sites has resulted in a national reckoning over the horrors of the residential school system and the Canadian government’s treatment of Indigenous people.

And while the work towards reconciliation is far from over, there have been growing questions about when to raise the flags, when they should be lowered once more, and how best to mark the loss of Indigenous children forced to attend the schools in a longer-term, ongoing way.