Deanne Pittman, Centretown News
Ottawa’s flag-raising policy was criticized recently over its so-called inconsistencies of honouring western countries over non-western countries.The City of Ottawa will be launching a new policy for flag raising to commemorate acts of global violence after the city recently came under fire over its inconsistencies of honouring Western countries over non-Western ones.
The city raises a country’s flag in front of city hall following acts of global violence in order to show “solidarity and sympathy from the people of Ottawa,” Cathy Bowles, the city’s chief of protocol told Centretown News via email.
The City of Ottawa has in recent years raised the flags of France, Belgium and Pakistan following major terror attacks in those countries.
With the support of the embassies and high commissions in Ottawa, the flags are often raised for the time designated by the country as the official period of mourning, she explains.
But some terrorism attacks— such as events that took place in Ankara, Turkey, in early March — were not commemorated in Ottawa with the raising of the stricken country’s flag.
Selçuk Ünal, Turkey’s ambassador to Canada, has voiced his concern to the CBC that non-western countries such as Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian or African countries don’t receive the same attention as western ones do in times of crisis.
He said he believes that all attacks of violence should be treated equally.
“We all have to condemn all terrorist attacks with equal, strong messages, show solidarity with all victims, and with all countries and governments who are facing this terrorist threat because it’s become a global issue,” Ünal said.
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The inconsistencies with flag raising at city hall, Mayor Jim Watson told the CBC in an interview, are somewhat due to the fact that a formal policy does not yet exist on the subject—Instead, the office has relied on the suggestions of community members.
“Generally, if a member of the community gets in touch with me, we’ll raise the flag,” Watson said. “It’s not the most sophisticated way of raising the flag. Where do you draw the line? When should it go down? And so on.”
A policy, says Bowles, is now in the works to determine the regulations for the procedure.
“(Watson) has requested development of a more formal policy with respect to such special recognitions,” she said.
Following the terrorist attacks in Lahore, Pakistan, on March 27, the municipal headquarters between Lisgar Street and Laurier Avenue raised that country’s flag in mourning.
Stephanie Siu, a student at Carleton University, says the city’s decision to raise the country of Pakistan’s flag may have been a reaction to the backlash caused by not raising the Turkish flag to honour its terrorist attacks.
Western countries receive more attention during these types of events because of the global priority they hold, according to Siu.
“The way I see it is people tend to care more about countries in the West—because the West controls most of the world,” she says.
Global reaction to terrorism is very symbolic, ays Kamari Clarke, an associate professor with Carleton’s department of global and international studies.
“The raising of flags is a symbolic process and it’s a form of symbolism that’s representative of political alliances,” she says. “Through symbols, people, government and institutions show what they value and what they respect.”
Disproportionate acts of commemoration are carried out due to various diplomatic relations, she explains.
The global and online discussions surrounding this type of inequality may push governments to change how they react to terrorist attacks or other issues that matter to their citizens, she adds.
Social media users have criticized Facebook for launching photo filters that overlaid the French tricolor flag over profile pictures to show support for France during its terrorist attacks but for not doing the same initiative to show support for acts of violence carried out in countries such as Pakistan and Lebanon.
“I think public opinion matters and people’s questions matters,” Clarke says. “It’s one of the ways that social change is possible.”
Social media has also given users the platform to speak out more on issues and express their opinions, she says.
“It’s quite possible that this is one thing that will shift (governments’) processes.”.