Following the recognition of the State of Palestine by Canada, the Palestinian flag is raised at Calgary City Hall for the first time on the National Day of Palestine on Saturday.
The Canadian government officially recognized the state back in September, with a statement by the Prime Minister saying:
“…Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel.”
That — and the flag-raising — are moments of validation for the people in attendance at the Municipal Plaza Saturday morning.
“This has been overwhelming. Just a happy, positive, exciting day for us,” Haneen Omar with the Palestinian Community Association told CityNews.
“Just to be like every other community here. There’s at least, I think, 80 ethnicities in Calgary, and we’ve always been here, and we’re happy to just have our day like everybody else.”
“The coldest country with the warmest heart,” Palestinian-Canadian attendee Husam Al-Rameeni said.
“People say ‘sorry’ a lot here, which means they return from wrong sometimes, maybe if somebody didn’t know about it before, they can change their mind. That’s the Canadian mentality,”
But this type of event may not happen again.
Calgary’s new mayor, Jeromy Farkas, says national flag-raisings are creating division, and he will bring forward a motion to end all national flag-raisings at City Hall.
Omar has a message for the mayor.
“I invite the mayor to connect with us — the Palestinian Community Association or any Palestinian individual or group, and just get to know us. Get to know us as Calgarians; we are a part of this city,” she said.
“The groups that take issue with our flag day take issue with any display of our identity; we also invite them to be part of the conversation.”
Al-Rameeni is hoping this new recognition leads to a broader societal change.
“Transform this into something constructive. And I think the Canadian government should become an active worker, not just sitting on the lines because we have everything it takes,” he said.
Calgary joins other Canadian cities, including Winnipeg and Toronto, in taking this symbolic step to recognize the State of Palestine.