Remembrance Day flag debate asking the wrong question, says Indigenous man

The question of how to deal with the traditional lowering of Canadian flags on Remembrance Day is not what people should be focused on, says an Inuk man living on P.E.I.

In late May flags were lowered on all federal buildings after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves at a former residential school in Kamloops. The flags have been half mast ever since. As Remembrance Day approaches, questions are being asked about the traditional honouring of veterans.

Inuk Jonathan Hamel is conflicted. His grandmother and her sister were in residential schools, but his family also has a history of military service in Canada.

"When the question came about raising the flags and lowering them down again for Remembrance Day, that did kind of make both of those realities of my life kind of collide together," Hamel told Island Morning host Laura Chapin.

But Hamel has concluded that the flag question in many ways is the wrong question altogether.

"What's kind of missing in the conversation there is, what has government been doing to advance reconciliation in the meantime?" he said, including the deaths of children at residential schools.

"Show us what you've done. If we raise the flag to lower it again for Remembrance Day, are we saying that we've dealt with the issue now and there's nothing that needs to be done?"

Sign of communal mourning

It's not that the gesture of lowering the flag is insignificant, said Hamel.

Lowering the flags is an important symbol of communal mourning, he said. It was significant to recognize the discovery of the unmarked graves with that gesture, and it remains important to honour Canada's veterans in that way.

But the current focus on the flag runs the risk of distracting from the real issues surrounding reconciliation, he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was saying the right things about reconciliation during the 2015 federal election campaign, he said, but real progress has been slow since. In particular, Hamel remains concerned about First Nations reserves that still don't have clean water, and a federal government decision just days ago to appeal a court ruling requiring a compensation payment over Indigenous child welfare.

"You said you were going to do these things. Why haven't you done them? What's the reason? We've come to the table. We've fulfilled our end of the agreement. Why aren't you fulfilling your end of the agreement?" Hamel said.

'Come to grips with what has happened'

The Assembly of First Nations said earlier this week if flags are to be raised, some other symbolic gesture needs to be made.

Hamel said he does not represent any group of Indigenous people, and does not have a particular opinion on what that gesture might be. But he hopes the federal government will sit down to negotiate seriously with Indigenous groups on the issue and, more importantly, work seriously toward reconciliation.

"Come to grips with what has happened and what is still happening in our country in terms of systemic racism and discrimination against Indigenous people."