Assembly of First Nations calls on government to raise Canadian flags on government buildings

The Assembly of First Nations has put forward what it calls a "solution" that would allow Ottawa to raise Canadian flags at federal government buildings to honour veterans on Remembrance Day while "continuing to grieve the genocide of Indigenous children."

In a media statement today, AFN National Chief RoseAnne Archibald called on the government to raise the flags that have flown at half-mast for months and "attach the 'Every Child Matters' orange flag to the Peace Tower and on all federal buildings starting November 7."

The AFN also called for the lowering of flags to half-mast on Nov. 8 — Indigenous Veterans Day.

"We are in agreement that the flag must be raised before Remembrance Day so that all veterans will be honoured when lowered to half-mast on November 11, 2021," Archibald said. 

"Furthermore, the 'Every Child Matters' orange flag will continue to fly until all of our children are recovered, named and symbolically or physically returned to their homelands with proper ceremony."

The AFN told CBC News that it is calling for the "Every Child Matters" flag to fly on the same mast below the Canadian flag. Official protocol states the Canadian flag should always be flown on its own mast or pole.

Flags on federal buildings have flown at half-mast since May 30, in response to the reported discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said that lowering the flags honoured the residential school students who never returned home. In September, Trudeau pledged to keep them at half-mast "until it is clear that Indigenous peoples are happy to raise them again."

But on Remembrance Day, flags are lowered to pay tribute to fallen soldiers.

Speaking to reporters in Glasgow, Scotland this week, Trudeau said he was "confident that conversations with Indigenous leadership" would allow the government to raise the flags so that they could be lowered again on Remembrance Day.

"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 said.

The government is expected to make an announcement on the matter as soon as today.

Watch: Trudeau comments on flag protocol for Remembrance Day