Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
Following recent mass casualties in Saskatchewan and Toronto, Lennox and Addington County is considering adopting a policy for lowering its flags following tragic events. Greater Napanee councillor Gord Schermerhorn stated he visited Toronto the day after 10 people were killed and 15 injured in a van attack and it got him thinking about what could be done.
“My heart aches for those people,” he said. Chief administrative officer Brenda Orchard told Schermerhorn there wasn’t a policy in place. He, then, asked that one be drafted and be brought back. He also suggested that flags be lowered to half-staff for “at least a couple of days to honour those people.”
Warden Bill Lowry indicated while some municipalities may have protocol for flags on their property, there are exceptions that arise like the tributes for the Humboldt Broncos or Toronto victims. “It’s very hard to say no when anybody requests this,” he said. Lowry said he understood in events of mass casualties, it’s often a convention to leave the flags at half-staff until a reasonable period of burial or memorial services for all the dead is compete. Upon councillors’ support of Schermerhorn’s motion, he said staff would make a judgment on what is an appropriate period of time to leave the flags lowered.