Municipal leaders in Ontario speak out against Norwich's decision to ban interest flags

Politicians in other southwestern Ontario municipalities are weighing in on the township of Norwich's decision to ban all interest group flags an to not declare June as Pride month. 

London's deputy mayor Shawn Lewis, who is that city's first openly gay elected official, wrote a letter to Norwich's Mayor Jim Palmer on Friday condemning the township council's decision to only fly civic flags on civic property. The initial motion explicitly excluded Pride flags, but that language was removed during debate on the motion. 

"I am the first member of the LGBTQ+ community ever elected here in the City of London, and with that personal experience and responsibility of leadership that I have, I could not stay silent and sit on the sidelines watching this issue unfold," Lewis told CBC's Afternoon Drive.

In his letter, Lewis said to Palmer that the last-minute amendment "should be seen as a procedural embarrassment, essentially as cover from its obvious homophobic intent," adding that Palmer has chosen to use his leadership poorly.

"This is the first time in five years I have ever written to another elected official in municipality and stuck my nose into a decision they've made," Lewis told CBC News.

Lewis said he also shared a copy of his letter with Oxford Pride's president Tammy Murray, who launched a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) against the township, Palmer, and Coun. John Scholten and Coun. Adrian Couwenberg last week.

Broader county to fly flag, proclaim Pride month

Leaders in Oxford County — which includes Norwich and seven other municipalities — have also weighed in by deciding to fly the Pride flag for the month of June. The county has flown it since 2021 but clarified the day after the Norwich vote that the flag would continue being raised. 

The county's warden Marcus Ryan referred to a document called the 'Safe and Wellbeing Oxford Plan' in which residents were asked which factors make them feel safe. The most important factor, ahead of employment, housing, and health care, was a sense of belonging, he said. 

"People should have a community they feel they belong in," Ryan said. "When a group of residents says to us 'We don't feel like we belong but it might be a signal from our local government if you put up this flag,' I think that we have an obligation to fly that flag."

While Ryan wouldn't directly comment on Norwich's decision, he said Oxford County's stance on the matter is very clear. He has posted a Youtube video challenging all elected officials within the county to join him on June 17 for the county's family Pride day.

Lewis recalled his own experiences growing up as LGBTQ+ youth in the small town of Wallaceburg in Chatham-Kent, Ont., and how isolating it was to not feel represented, he said.

"I remember what that was like and as much as it may seem like a small gesture to folks to have [the flag] it's important to have those visual symbols for people to see," he said. 

Ryan, who is also the mayor of the county's Zorra township, said he's had many constituents from the LGBTQ+ community reach out to him privately over the years to express how unsafe they feel in the rural communities they live in.

"This is why elected leaders need to offer leadership to our community," he said. "There's things we don't all agree on, but what we have to agree on is that everybody belongs, and if they feel otherwise then that's just not okay."

Lewis says he's worked with many politicians representing rural communities trying to bridge the urban-rural divide, but finds that with this bylaw, Norwich is choosing to stay in the past instead of embracing the future. 

Listen to the interview with Shawn Lewis