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An urgent notice of motion to debate banning the raising of national flags at Calgary city hall was narrowly voted down during a Tuesday council meeting.
The proposal, brought forward by Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean, called for council to discuss amendments to Calgary’s flag policy during its scheduled public hearing meeting as an “urgent business” matter. Those amendments would include removing sections that allow flags of other countries to be flown at city hall.
“What was once intended as a unifying and symbolic gesture has increasingly become a source of division in our community,” said McLean.
The urgent notice of motion was defeated 8-7, with councillors primarily debating the urgency of the motion rather than the proposed amendments.
McLean said he plans to bring the motion forward to council’s executive committee but didn’t confirm when.
Mayor Jeromy Farkas, who has been vocal about his support for banning the raising of national flags at city hall, said discussing the matter in Tuesday’s meeting under “urgent business” would ensure council’s decision is “made in the most fair and equitable way possible.”
“If we were to accept this [motion] at a later meeting, we risk potentially having dozens of additional applications come in under the current rules,” Farkas said. “Doing it that way would create a really uneven playing field where some communities might receive recognition under the old system, while others would fall under the new one.”
Farkas pointed to the fact that two national flag raisings, commemorating Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Statehood Day and Albania’s National Independence Day, are still scheduled for later this month.
“It would really expose council to both political criticism and potential legal scrutiny about why some groups benefitted from the timing and others did not,” Farkas said.
According to the mayor’s office, Calgary city hall has flown 36 national flags this year.
Ward 2 Coun. Jennifer Wyness, who voted against the motion, questioned its urgency and the political motivations behind it.
“This is purely because of the Palestinian flag raising, let’s not kid ourselves,” she said.
New Mayor Jeromy Farkas is pushing to end all international flags from being raised. At the Palestine flag raising on Saturday, some were questioning the timing.
Under Calgary’s previous council, a Palestinian flag raising was approved for Nov. 30. That was later changed to Nov. 15, the date of the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, to align with city policy.
In September, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada would recognize Palestinian statehood.
That flag raising went ahead on Saturday, two days after Farkas posted on social media that a notice of motion would be introduced to ban the raising of national flags.
Wyness said accepting the urgent notice of motion would be “shortcutting Calgarians,” and that doing so “removes the ability to communicate with Calgarians about a policy that matters to everybody.”
Coun. Nathaniel Schmidt also voted against the motion, saying it would be beneficial to further consult with stakeholders, including his constituents in Ward 8, “where there is a diversity of different communities from different parts of the world.”
“That would allow us to inform the notice of motion through the collaboration and the input from all of the communities who will be affected by this,” Schmidt said.
McLean defended introducing the urgent notice of motion, saying that stalling it “for political purposes” could lead to further controversy and division.
