Positive up and down week for Maple Leaf

At government and city buildings across Kelowna, flags were lowered to half-mast on Nov. 8 for National Aboriginal Veterans Day.

Many flags across the country were lowered in May in honour of Indigenous children who suffered and died at residential schools. They have remained half-mast ever since.

But the federal government made the decision to raise the flags on Sunday so they could be lowered on Monday after talks with Indigenous groups.

Mayor Colin Basran told Kelowna10 it was important for the city to have the flags flying at half-mast for the day of remembering.

“We want to recognize those who have made contributions to our community and our country,” he said. “This is the first Indigenous veterans’ day that we recognized with the flag lowering and I think it speaks to how much we as a country have learned over the last year and it was something we wanted to mark.”

Basran said this is another educational step forward following the discovery of unmarked graves at residential schools.

“This is one example of us wanting to be better learning from our Indigenous partners and recognizing in the past we have made mistakes,” he said. “We’re here to rectify those mistakes and move forward with our First Nations partners.”

The flags went back up Tuesday morning so they can be lowered again on Remembrance Day to honour Canada’s veterans and war dead.

After Remembrance Day, the flags will fly at full-mast once again, but will be lowered for National Truth and Reconciliation Day every Sept. 30.