First Nations flags to be permanently flown at Vancouver City Hall

Location of the existing flag island at Vancouver City Hall where the First Nations flags will be raised. (Shawn.ccf/Shutterstock)

The flags of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations will be permanently flown at Vancouver City Hall starting later this year.

As part of a number of changes to update the City of Vancouver’s civic protocols of flag displays, the flags of each local First Nation will be added to City Hall’s island of tall flag poles at the northeast corner of the intersection of Cambie Street and West 12th Avenue.

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A total of 16 flag poles currently exist on this island, three of which are set to be dedicated to the First Nations. According to a new city staff report, the remaining 13 poles will be available for guest-flagging requests and temporary flagging displays.

This should not be confused with the much taller flag poles just to the north on the lawn of City Hall, where the flags of the City of Vancouver and British Columbia are permanently flown — previously used for years-long displays of the flags of the Olympic Rings and Paralympic Agitos in the leadup and during the 2010 Winter Olympics — and on the rooftop of City Hall, where the Canadian flag is permanently flown.

The Indigenous flags are anticipated to be raised for the first time in a ceremony with the First Nations sometime in the third quarter of 2024.

According to City staff, several other municipal governments, including Toronto, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Port Alberni, are also permanently displaying flags representing their local First Nations as a symbol of reconciliation.

In May 2023, the Vancouver Park Board also permanently raised the flags of the three First Nations at newly installed flag poles at Brockton Point in Stanley Park.

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Flags of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations permanently raised at Brockton Point in Stanley Park. (Vancouver Park Board)

Other changes to the City’s flag display protocols also include decisions and scenarios for half-masting, such as the death of a sovereign, political dignitaries, and identified elected officials. City staff are recommending that the mayor be responsible for such decisions in the future as such decisions usually have to be made on very short notice. Currently, Vancouver City Council as a whole is responsible for such a decision, but it is not always possible to convene a City Council vote on such short notice.

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