MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Families and Indigenous advocates are speaking out after the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board (DPCDSB) confirmed that Every Child Matters flags will no longer be permitted at its schools this September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
The board’s updated flag policy, passed in January, restricts schools to displaying only the Canadian flag, provincial and territorial flags, and the school board flag. That means symbols such as Pride flags, the Every Child Matters flag, and local First Nations flags can no longer be flown inside or outside schools.
For parents like Melanie Cormier, an Oji-Cree mother of two daughters in the DPCDSB, the decision feels like erasure. “As a parent, I knew that I would feel welcome when the flag was there. Now, it feels like my family’s story is being pushed aside,” she said. Many of her relatives, including her mother, are survivors of Canada’s residential school system.
Recent graduate Tia Simone, a former member of the board’s Indigenous Education Council, said the policy shift has undone years of advocacy. “Working so hard over the years just to be shut down like that, it was not a good feeling,” she said. Her mother, Charlene Simone, added the change felt like “going back in time,” though she continues to work on the council in hopes of future progress.
The flag policy initially came under fire in 2024 after trustees rejected motions to allow Pride flags. While some exceptions were previously allowed for observances, the January amendments closed that door. A specific motion to permit Every Child Matters flags was also voted down.
The DPCDSB, which is currently under provincial supervision for financial mismanagement, has not commented on whether the flag policy could be reconsidered. Ontario’s Ministry of Education did not respond to questions about whether the appointed supervisor has authority over such policies.
Families say the loss of the orange flag—long tied to reconciliation observances in schools—sends the wrong message to students. “Everyone deserves to feel included and safe,” said Cormier. “This decision moves us backwards.”
