Supporters gather at Calgary's Palestinian flag-raising ceremony

Hundreds of individuals gathered in Calgary’s Municipal Square on Saturday, as the Palestinian flag was raised in front of city hall in honour of the National Day of Palestine. “It’s like when you have 70 and 80 years, and more than they years, you’re waiting for something, and it’s happening now, something we can’t believe it’s happening,” said Husam Abdel, of the Palestinian Community Association– Calgary. “It took lots of effort, lots of process, lots of dialogue, lots of everything you could imagine, and now we’re here. We’re so happy.” The event began with a speech from Wendy Walker, an indigenous songwriter and poet, followed by speeches from Abdel and other members of Calgary’s Palestinian community. Following the opening series of speeches, a moment of silence was observed before the Palestinian flag was raised, accompanied by music playing in the background. “Amazing,” said Walaa Katoue, a Palestinian at the ceremony. “It felt, I don’t think there are the words. You want to hug everybody around you. You want to tell your kids. Like, you want to shout it from the rooftops that this is the Palestinian flag that has been censored across all platforms.” More speeches were given following the flag raising, with many people expressing their gratitude for the event and a desire for their community to receive continued recognition. "We're Canadians that happened to be Palestinians; that's our origin," Abdel said. "That's where we are from, but we are Canadians. We're Calgarians. Our kids are with us here. They go to the schools here. We work here.".Controversy clouded the days leading up to the ceremony, as Calgarians debated whether Palestine’s flag should be raised outside of a government building. The debate intensified on Thursday, when Mayor Jeremy Farkas announced his intention to make a motion to ban all non-Canadian government flags from being flown at City Hall. .“City Hall must be a place that brings people together,” Farkas wrote in a statement released on X on Thursday. “National flags, particularly during times of global conflict, can have the opposite effect: instead of creating unity, they can create division, escalate emotions, and make some Calgarians feel unsafe in a place that belongs to all of us.” Ahead of that motion, Farkas chose to allow the Palestinian flag ceremony to continue, but opted to move the date to Saturday, the National Day of Palestine, rather than the previously scheduled November 30. “The City of Calgary’s longstanding Flag Policy allows for citizens to request the raising of national flags from countries officially recognized by the Government of Canada, on their designated national days,” Farkas wrote in the statement. “This is why the Israeli flag is raised each year on May 14, Israel’s Independence Day. With Canada’s recent official recognition of Palestine, the policy now permits the Palestinian flag to be raised on November 15, the National Day of Palestine.” .Supporters of the event largely attended Saturday’s ceremony, but a few individuals also came to voice their displeasure. “They can do all of the peaceful advocacy they want, but we don’t need a terrorist run state, not country yet, flag raised on out city property, particularly as I defend as much as I can from Calgary, having had lineage that goes back well over a century and a half to this area,” said George Clark, an individual who attended the event. Saturday’s flag raising could be one of the final national flag raising ahead of Tuesday’s city council meeting. In the meantime, Farkas has stated that the previously scheduled flag-raising ceremony for two more countries will proceed later this month.

Supporters gather at Calgary's Palestinian flag-raising ceremony

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