canada day flag

Justin Trudeau asks Canadian flag to fly at half-mast on Canada Day

In wake of finding hundreds of graves containing the child remains of residential school victims, there are increasing requests to cancel Canada Day celebrations  

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted today asking for the Canadian flag to remain at half-mast as people mourn the loss of these children's lives. 

The flag flying at half-mast is to symbol the mourning of the Indigenous children whose lives were taken too soon. 

There have been over one-hundred replies to the tweet, some respecting the gesture:

And others requesting more action to be taken:

The Ontario government announced that it will be giving $10M to help locate unmarked graves of Indigenous children who died at Canadian residential schools. 

Premier Doug Ford said in an announcement on June 15 that, "There is painful but necessary work ahead, and we must confront what happened for reconciliation to be achieved."

For those looking to support, there are numerous ways to support Indigenous communities in Canada

Many Toronto businesses, including Craig's Cookies, Honey's, and Two Hot Babes Coffee Co., will also be donating 100 per cent of their sales on July 1 to Indigenous communities. 

Others won't be celebrating at all and will be donating to Indigenous groups. 

Lead photo by

Tom Carnegie


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