Burlington Council Unanimously Approves New Flag-Raising, Proclamation & Pier-Lighting Policy as 1-Year Pilot

At our April 16 meeting, Burlington Council unanimously approved a new staff created policy for flag raisings, proclamations and Pier lightings as a one-year pilot and to report back to Council with feedback on its implementation by Q1 2025.See the approved full motion from Council, My Take, and the associated staff report and supporting documents below — as well as additional background information further down this post.APPROVED MOTION:

• Approve the Flag Raising, Proclamations and Pier Lighting Policy substantially in the form attached as Appendix A to the office of the city clerk report CL-09-24, as a pilot program and report back by Q1 2025; and
• Allow for the Sikh Heritage Month flag to remain on an alternative flag pole for the balance of April 2024

MY TAKE:There are so many significant events, causes, people and organizations in our community that deserve recognition by the City in some form. Burlington’s flag-raising, proclamations and pier lighting policy was in need of an update to ensure all the requests City Hall receives are done so in a fair, inclusive and equitable way — based on a set of best practice criteria that coincide with other municipalities. I believe that’s what we have here now. I thank City staff for the great work they did in putting this policy together and to my Council colleagues for their unanimous approval.

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To read the staff report and related supporting documents, please click/tap the links below:

• Staff report: CL-09-24 Flag Raising, Proclamations and Pier Lighting Policy.pdf
• Appendix: CL-09-24 Appendix A Flag Raising, Proclamations, and Pier Lighting Policy_final draft.pdf

BACKGROUND:The City of Burlington offers many opportunities of recognition for its residents, community activities and significant events. This includes flag raisings, proclamations, and pier lightings. Over the last few years, the requests for flag raisings, proclamations and pier lightings have steadily increased. For example, the number of requests for flag raisings went up from 13 in 2021 to 34 in 2023. Similar trends have been noted in requests for proclamations and pier lightings, with over 70 requests for pier lighting already received in 2024, and a total of 98 in 2023.It is clear that our community is increasingly engaging in recognition activities and a formal approach to processing these requests is required. Currently, the process is loosely guided by Protocol Guidelines document last reviewed in 2018, and not a Council approved formal policy.The purpose of the attached policy is to provide a standard, consistent and fair approach for which flag raising, proclamations, and pier lighting requests are received by the City and processed.Staff recommend the approval of the attached policy to ensure that all requests for community flag raisings, proclamations and pier lightings honouring Burlington’s significant events and organizations occur in a fair, inclusive and equitable manner based on established criteria as outlined in this policy.