Vernon City Hall. (Liam Verster/Vernon Matters Staff)

By Liam Verster

Truth and Reconciliation

National Truth and Reconciliation service at Vernon City Hall today

Sep 30, 2022 | 7:00 AM

Sylix Nation and Okanagan Nation Alliance flags will be raised at Vernon City Hall today (Sept. 30) to mark the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Plans for the flag raising have changed slightly since first approved at the Sept. 6 council meeting, when it was unanimously decided the flags would be raised on Thursday, Sept. 29, and stay up through Monday, Oct. 3.

At the meeting Monday, Sept. 26, city council rescinded the prior motion and instead committed to raising the flags at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30.

The flag raising will now correspond with a planned event at city hall featuring a blessing from an Elder of the Sylix Nation, a drum performance, and the reading and discussion of the 94 calls to action.

The flags will be lowered at dusk on Friday.

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The event is being organized by the Vernon and District Immigrant and Community Services Society in collaboration with the Okanagan Indian Band.

Speaking with Vernon Matters, Mayor Victor Cumming said changing the flag raising time aligns with the event plans, and the city would follow the request from the organizers.

In addition to changing the flag raising time line, city council directed staff to investigate options for installing a new flag pole and drafting a policy for raising flags to mark specific events.

“The situation here is that any flag that we can easily manage is actually on the roof [of city hall], so it makes doing these events a little bit more complex and when it’s a [statutory holiday] a little bit more expensive,” Cumming said. He noted if they had a pole available, they could more easily raise and lower flags for special occasions.

“We don’t do it as a regular thing but we’ve done it in recognition for the conflict in Ukraine and we’ve done it in recognition of Pride Day. Those are the two times that we’ve done it and now we are doing it in recognition of the reconciliation process.”

Staff will report back at a future meeting with the costs and possible location for a new pole to use for such events, as well as a bylaw relating to the raising of flags on a city pole.

It will also be determined at a future date if the pole should be left bare when not being used for a special purpose, or which flag could be flown from it through the rest of the year.