Flags on federal buildings to be raised before and after Remembrance Day

The federal government will raise and re-lower the Canadian flags on federal buildings and atop the peace tower for Indigenous Veterans Day and Remembrance Day next week, but then the flags will return to full hoist.

The plan, announced on Friday, includes an intention to lower Canadian flags to half-mast annually on Sept. 30 for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The government says it is also working to find a “suitable” place in the parliamentary precinct to raise the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s “Survivors Flag.”

On Nov. 7, the Canadian flags currently at half-mast in recognition of the victims and survivors of Canada’s residential school system will return to full-mast during sunset, and then be lowered on Nov. 8 for Indigenous Veterans Day. The flags will then be raised and lowered again for Nov. 11.

“Raising the flag at this time will allow us to honour and remember important moments in Canada’s history,” reads a joint Canadian Heritage and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canadas statement, citing “many discussions” between Indigenous partners and the government.

Ahead of the announcement, Assembly of First Nations National Chief RoseAnne Archibald issued a statement calling on the government to raise orange “every child matters” flags alongside the Canadian flag, “until all of our children are recovered, named, and symbolically or physically returned to their homelands with proper ceremony.”