Pro-life flag flap could reopen old debate at council
In May 1994, Saskatoon city council rejected a request to proclaim Gay Pride Day in the city.
It may have marked the first time a request for such a proclamation in Saskatoon was rejected.
Tonight, the current council will decide whether to accept a request for a proclamation and flag raising from the Saskatoon chapter of Alliance for Life, a pro-life group that opposes abortion and assisted suicide.
Art Robinson, who covered city hall for The Starphoenix 24 years ago, warned in a column that the rejection of Lesbian and Gay Pride Day could mark “a horrible slide down a slippery slope.”
Robinson noted wryly that council had approved an Anti-discrimination Day at the same meeting and said it was the first time he could recall such a request was spurned.
The proclamation was rejected as a result of a 5-5 tied vote with one councillor absent. Then-mayor Henry Dayday was among those who voted against the request, while longtime former councillors Kate Waygood, Glen Penner and Donna Birkmaier supported it.
Changes followed about a year later to remove political considerations from the decision-making process for proclamations.
Under the current policy, which was shaped by the 1995 gay pride decision, the city clerk is given discretion for vetting requests for proclamations. The city clerk signs such proclamations, instead of the mayor, but council still approves them, almost always with a rubber stamp.
Saskatoon lacks a formal policy on flag raisings, but those requests usually follow the proclamations protocol.
Political parties and commercial enterprises are excluded from proclamations, as are messages that promote hatred, illegal activity — so, pot-smoking week is now OK — or “inflammatory, obscene or libellous” messages.
Proclamations are usually approved as a group, so what happened in June was extremely unusual. Coun. Hilary Gough wanted more information about the Alliance for Life request.
Coun. Zach Jeffries and Coun. Randy Donauer became suspicious. The emailed request from Carole Tokaruk is poorly worded, but certainly understandable, as was noted by Jeffries.
Tokaruk says she wants to hold a “Pro-life Week” Jan. 21 to 28 “and we are requesting that the mayor would proclaim this week as Respect for Life week with the possibility of a flag-raising ceremony.”
That’s not exactly dripping with ambiguity. At the same June meeting, council approved proclamations ranging from National Injury Prevention Day to National Veterinary Technician Week.
Saskatoon previously declared a Respect for Life week in 1976, 1980 and 2001, a city report says.
It’s probably not the proclamation that concerns some city councillors, it’s the possibility of a flag with a cartoon fetus flying next to city hall.
Donauer warned about returning to the days when council made decisions on which groups get proclamations and flag raisings. Council still voted 6-2 in favour of seeking more information about the Alliance for Life request with three councillors absent.
Tokaruk responded with a hand-written note in September that did not mention a flag raising. Interestingly, Tokaruk, who could not be reached by The Starphoenix, seems to think that city hall did not receive her first message.
Why has a further response taken so long? City hall administration says it was reviewing the matter.
Even stranger, why did the issue wind up on the agenda of an in-camera council committee meeting on Dec. 10? (We only know about this because the agenda was posted inadvertently.)
Whether the months of reviewing will prove to be a tactic to reject a request without any politician feeling compelled to make a statement should become clear tonight.
The report council will consider refers to the City of Prince Albert, which was sued by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Rights over its refusal to fly a pro-life flag.
The flag featured a cartoon fetus named Umberto the Unborn and the message: “Please let me live.”
Provocative? Certainly. Inflammatory? Possibly. Regardless, Prince Albert city council voted this year to end the practice of offering a flagpole for community use, to avoid the legal challenge.
Tonight, Saskatoon council will reopen a debate some thought ended a generation ago.