Windsor council defers controversial flag policy change, sparking outburst in chambers

CTV Windsor’s Travis Fortnum offers you a complete summary of the city’s council meeting.

Windsor City Council has deferred a proposed change to its flag-raising policy — a move that triggered a heated response from at least one member of the public.

The proposal, brought forward by city staff, reads as though it would limit flag raisings at city facilities to official governmental and civic flags — including the Canadian, Ontario, Windsor, and Franco-Ontarian flags — and eliminate the city’s illumination and proclamation programs.

But the proposed revision sparked backlash from some residents concerned that it could effectively prevent the Pride flag from being flown at city hall.

Council did not vote on the item on Monday. Instead, Mayor Drew Dilkens announced the policy update — listed as Item 11.1 on the agenda — would be deferred to a future meeting, either in June or July, to allow staff more time to examine comparable policies in other municipalities.

“The clerk will do the work with respect to looking at the Ontario policy with respect to some of the issues that have been brought up and report back to City Council,” said Dilkens.

Immediately after the deferral was announced, Patricia Derouin, a registered delegate who had traveled from London to speak to the matter, stood up from the audience and began shouting “Shame!” repeatedly.

Uniformed Windsor police officers escorted her from council chambers.

Derouin is a member of the organization Guardians in Action and is not affiliated with Windsor-Essex Pride Fest.

She later told CTV News she plans to return to city hall when the item comes back to council.

Following her removal, Mayor Dilkens addressed concerns from the public gallery, looking to quell the concerns of the Queer community.

“What we were trying to say, before the outburst, was that the proposed change in the policy does not impact the LGBT community’s ability to raise the flag and continue to do what we’ve always done. There is no impact on that,” he said.

“Even if council accepted the proposed amendment to the policy, it does not impact the flag raisings that already happened.”

Dilkens told those in the gallery they were welcome to return when the policy made it back onto the agenda.

“But you need to know that moving forward, there’s no impact with respect to your ability to raise the flag in the past and continue to raise the flag moving forward.”

Mayor clarifies

Following the meeting, Mayor Dilkens addressed the media to further explain the reasoning behind the deferral and respond to the disruption in council chambers.

“Today was a whole lot of anger about nothing,” he said — again emphasizing that the Pride flag would continue to be raised annually, even if the proposed policy amendment is approved.

He said the intent behind the proposed changes is to align Windsor’s policy with those of the federal and provincial governments.

Under the federal policy, the Pride flag is permitted as part of special commemorations — something Dilkens noted would also be allowed under the proposed local framework.

Dilkens also addressed the outburst in council chambers.

“This was not the pride community that I know and I think the person who stood up or just kept yelling ‘shame’ actually came from London to be here.“Congratulations. You had your two seconds in front of the camera,” said Dilkens.

“This will come back and we’ll deal with it in a sensible way. But either way, the way we deal with it will not impact our ability to fly the Pride flag.”