Flags are set to be returned to full mast outside civic buildings in Chilliwack.
They were lowered to half-mast on May 30, 2021 to honour residential school children who never went home at local sites like City Hall, Evergreen Hall as well as fire halls, and parks.
RELATED: Chilliwack follows suit lowering flags to half mast
The country was in mourning and in shock after the remains of 215 children were recovered from unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops, with ground-penetrating radar.
It kicked off a Canada-wide effort to search former sites.
The City of Chilliwack lowered its flags at the time to align with the government of Canada’s half-masting notice. Children’s shoes started showing up on the stairs at the Chilliwack courthouse around the same time.
Mayor Ken Popove said he’d asked staff to lower the flags last May, in keeping with other communities who were doing the same out of recognition and respect.
Now it time for them to be raised.
“Although the government of Canada has not indicated when flags should return to full-mast, city officials consulted with local Indigenous leader Chief David Jimmie, president of Stó:lō Nation Chiefs’ Council, and the decision was made to return flags to full-mast on Friday, October 29,” according to a news release from city hall.
To learn more about the painful legacy of residential schools, check these reports from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
When flags are flown at half-mast it is a sign of mourning. The flag is brought to the half-mast position by raising it to the top of the mast and immediately lowering it slowly to half-mast.
RELATED: Flags lowered at federal, provincial buildings
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