Canada took a bow on the world stage in 1976, and not just for the Montreal Olympics. We saw two of our initiatives approved by the Commonwealth of Nations: (1) the adoption of Commonwealth Day on the 2nd Monday in March (today). And (2), the approval of a flag for the world body, free of imperial symbols, and proudly designed in Ottawa.

So it's bewildering that Ottawa refuses to acknowledge the very flag it created. To mark Commonwealth Day, today, it orders all federal buildings, airports, military bases, harbours, and even the CN Tower, to fly the BRITISH flag. The federal website claims the Commonwealth flag (photo) has "no official status", despite the fact it was approved with Canada's support 47 years ago. How official can it get?

The flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland is lovely, but fails to symbolize 56 separate nations, most of which are republics, and some of which have no historical connection to Britain. The very word "British" was removed from the name of the global organization 77 years ago. Britain, itself, has embraced the Commonwealth flag (this photo was taken in Hampshire County, England), but Ottawa’s negligence in updating its flag rules means the flag of a single foreign member state is being used instead of the one that symbolizes the global group.  

Consider how unpopular using the UK flag is among many groups:

• French Canadians, for whom the British flag is a symbol of anglo bias, and an irritating reminder of the Conquest;
• Irish Canadians, who bristle at favoured status given to the flag of a country their ancestors battled. It’s especially egregious that Ottawa's decree comes during Irish Heritage Month, just days ahead of St. Patrick's Day;
• First Nations, who see the colonial emblem of an occupier who broke faith with treaties and sacred trusts;
• Acadians, whose lands were stolen, families torn apart, and culture decimated under the British flag;
• African and Caribbean Canadians, for whom the UK flag is a reminder of the struggle against slavery, racism, and colonial condescension

Global Affairs is embarrassed by our custom. The City of Toronto, which normally follows federal flag guidelines, has opted out of this one. Even the Commonwealth's headquarters office in London is mystified by our rule, and encourages all peoples to fly the Commonwealth flag, this day.

So let's do that, and stop using the British Union Jack. No law requires it flown for Commonwealth Day, so Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez can change the regulation with a stroke of his pen. Parliament would still do well to revise the 1964 provision that says the British flag is the symbol of our membership in the group, however. That 59-year-old concession was seen as a temporary one, amid worries, even then, that it devalued the Union Jack, and was a misappropriation of another country's flag for a "peculiarly Canadian purpose”.

Peculiar, indeed. Share this petition to put this and other flag rules in line.