Treaty No. 6 First Nations Grand Chief Cody Thomas says the removal of the Treaty 6 flag in municipalities is a “mistake” and a “step backwards” for reconciliation.
On Tuesday, more than 1,100 people living in the town of Barrhead voted for a bylaw to ban all decorative flags and cross walks from public property.
The town said council would pass the bylaw and begin removing existing crosswalks or flags that violate it, including a Pride crosswalk, a disability pride crosswalk, a Royal Canadian Legion flag and a Treaty 6 flag.
The group Barrhead Neutrality organized the petition in June after seeing a similar bylaw in the town of Westlock.
Earlier this year, Westlock implemented a bylaw to prohibit rainbow crosswalks and restricting the town to only fly government flags.
Thomas says “neutrality” bans “aren’t really neutral and have a negative impact on progress and public awareness.”
Treaty 6 was signed on Aug. 23, 1876 in Fort Carlton, in Saskatchewan. It’s an agreement signed between the Crown and First Nations across western Canada.
The treaty covers the area from western Alberta through Saskatchewan and into Manitoba and includes 50 First Nations.
The Treaty 6 flag shows an Indigenous person shaking hands with a non-Indigenous person in a silver coin in front of the British flag. Johnson says the symbolism means commitment.
University of Alberta sociology associate professor Paulina Johnson says visual representation of the flag is important since people often overlook what it means.
“We descend from the individuals that negotiated (the) Treaty, understanding of what it meant to share this land and live together,” Johnson said.
She says removing the visual of the flag means losing the part of what it means to be on Treaty 6 land and stay connected to it.
Johnson says while she understands the issues behind what flags should or shouldn’t be flown, especially when it comes to individual rights, removing the flag is removing history.
“Treaty precedes Canada, Treaty precedes the province and even Barrhead. I think there needs to be an acknowledgement and also importantly, a history lesson that goes hand in hand with what happens when you remove those flags.”
CTV News Edmonton has reached out to the town of Barrhead and is awaiting a response.
With files from The Canadian Press and CTV News Edmonton’s Steven Dyer