Flag for foreign president flew under the radar
Maple Leaf lowered for George H.W. Bush
There was a minor flag flap at St. Catharines city hall this week when a new city councillor questioned the decision to lower flags in honour of U.S. President George H.W. Bush.
Merritton Coun. Greg Miller tweeted Wednesday that Bush “famously architected racist tough on crime laws” domestically and was behind several “imperialist invasions” abroad.
“I don’t think his is a legacy a compassionate city should be honouring,” Miller wrote, in addition to following up with the city.
It turns out — whether one is a fan of Bush or not — that the city doesn’t typically lower flags for foreign heads of state as per its flag protocol policy. There is discretion for the CAO or mayor to go outside the policy, but they weren’t involved in Wednesday’s decision.
CAO Shelley Chemnitz explained it was an oversight by a staff member. The federal government put out a notification that flags on all government of Canada buildings would be lowered for Bush on the day of his funeral Wednesday and the employee mistakenly lowered city hall’s flag without having a con-
versation with the CAO or mayor.
Chemnitz said staff have been reminded about city flag policies.
“If it isn’t automatic in the protocol, it is something that needs to be discussed,” she said.
Miller said he’s satisfied with the explanation and trusts the mayor and CAO to make decisions.
“If there is a process in place and something just got missed that time, that happens obviously.”
He added it might be good opportunity to form an equity or social justice committee to give council input, not just on flags, but on anti-poverty, race relations and gender equity for policies council passes.
St. Catharines’ flag protocol includes lowering flags for members of the royal family, former and current governor generals and prime ministers, federal cabinet ministers, provincial premiers and others.