The City of Quinte West has taken another step towards fostering a bond with local Indigenous communities.
At Monday’s Quinte West council meeting, council approved a resolution that officially declares June as National Indigenous History Month in Quinte West and June 21 as National Indigenous People’s Day.
The resolution featured a number of requests all centred around recognition of Indigenous peoples and culture in Quinte West.
The list included:
- The creation of a recognition pathway, sidewalk, and/or street crossing depicting feathers
- Flying an orange flag on September 30 every year in support of the Every Child Matters Movement
- Flying an awareness No More Stolen Sisters flag in support of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement on May 5 of every year
- Flying an Indigenous Culture/ support flag with The Medicine Wheel year round in support and solidarity with Indigenous People everywhere
- The City of Quinte West, where appropriate and possible before ceremonies and or celebrations, recognize a Land Acknowledgement as a welcoming gesture to the Indigenous Community
During council discussion Councillor David O’Neil raised a concern about whether or not the city could facilitate flying another flag year round.
“City hall has three flag poles. They fly the Canadian flag, the Ontario flag and has one more pole. If we fly this flag, how are we going to support any of the others? If we agree to this I think we should be considering more flag poles and if we’re not going to do more flag poles I don’t think we should be flying one flag all year round.”
Mayor Jim Harrison echoed Councillor O’Neil and mentioned that there is a policy on flying flags. He suggested that they defer the matter until a staff report on it can be brought back to the council table.
Chief Administrative Officer David Clazie agreed that they could look at the cost of another pole or alternative options but also that it would have to be deferred until a staff report could be completed.
Councillor Terry Cassidy spoke about the importance of harnessing this relationship and finding ways to provide recognition for Indigenous peoples in Quinte West.
“That little bit of recognition and ability to want to work together with people, I think, is a really good thing for us to do to be the best that we can [be] with respect to Indigenous people and issues that come up. I would hope that staff will do as Councillor O’Neil has suggested and look at some creative ways that we can continue to be outstanding in our welcoming and recognition of people in our community who know what’s happened because they live it every day.”
Council elected to pass the first part of the resolution proclaiming June as National Indigenous History Month and June 21 as National Indigenous People’s Day but elected to defer the rest of the resolution until after a staff report can be completed.
