GREENSTONE — Will the Franco-Ontarian flag ever return to its year-long post in Greenstone?
At Greenstone’s regular council meeting on March 25, Coun. Vicky Budge brought forward a discussion about the municipality’s newly-introduced flag policy – a policy that aims to generate equity by flying the Francophone, Every Child Matters, and Métis Nation of Ontario flags at designated times throughout the year.
Previously, Greenstone’s flag policy kept the Franco-Ontarian flag flying year-round.
Budge said the removal of the flag holds tremendous weight for her and that it contradicts the goals laid out in Greenstone’s strategic plan.
“We should be proud that Greenstone is a bilingual municipality. There aren’t many bilingual municipalities or towns,” Budge said.
She noted that the OPP have recently adopted a policy which allows bilingual officers to wear a Franco-Ontarian pin to identify themselves as Francophones.
Budge encouraged council to have further discussions with Greenstone’s Francophone community and to possibly look into funding for an additional flagpole, among other solutions.
“If that’s not feasible, to look at other avenues of how we can represent the French community and other communities. If reconciliation is the reason that this was brought to the table, let’s figure out a way that works for everybody – but I don’t believe that taking away something that means a lot to a community . . . I don’t agree with taking it away for the reason that we’re being fair across the board,” Budge said.
While some councillors were amenable to further discussion, Coun. Fran Koning argued that the solution is already in plain sight.
“I don’t want to see other groups in this area left behind without recognition at the expense of another group. It took many different nationalities to be Greenstone . . . I’m not negating the contribution of the French community . . . but we have a flag that represents all of us and that’s the Canadian flag,” Koning said.
Coun. Chris Walterson agreed with Koning’s comments and remained firm about the new flag policy, saying they would “run out of flagpoles” if they try to please everyone by flying their flags year-round.
Coun. Alan Oullet, who identified himself as a member of the Francophone community, said that while he is all for truth and reconciliation, he agreed with Coun. Budge
“I, too, don’t believe that we should be taking away something that was fought so hard for just to try to create equality,” Oullet said.
He went on to reference the deputation council heard from the Association des francophones du Nord-Ouest de l'Ontario (AFNOO) on March 11.
“To have such a big outcry – it’s not often we have such a big presence. It should speak volumes to council that we don’t always get it right,” Oullet said.
“This is a significant outcry from a large percentage of our population and for us to just discredit that, to me, is disheartening. I think we should be finding a way to speak with the Franco community, to speak with the First Nations communities, or any community we are looking to provide support to and find a resolution that will work for everybody.”
He said the way council rolled out the new flag decision was “short-sighted” and only stands to hurt attracting new people to the community.
Budge said she’d like to see the motion come back for another vote in addition to further discussions with groups in the community seeking representation.
While no definitive solution was settled on, Budge ultimately opted to formally bring the topic back to Greenstone’s next regular council meeting scheduled for April 8 as a discussion item – giving her, the chief administrative officer, and the municipal clerk time to devise wording to amend the item into a motion ahead of their next meeting.
Mayor Jamie McPherson thanked the councillors for their discussion and raised his own point.
“It’s not the responsibility of those that are wronged to make the change. The responsibility is that of the person who did wrong,” McPherson said.
