Did the Mayor just announce that there will be another trip out of the country?

By Pepper Parr

January 29, 2020

BURLINGTON, ON

The dialogue on the matter of lowering the city flag in front of city hall has gone on long enough.

A citizen made a request, got a very insensitive response from the office of the Mayor. Later that day the Mayor asked her Council members to join her in a minute of silence to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the liberation of the death camps in Auschwitz.

It was a dignified statement made more poignant when the Mayor presented the Key to the city to Gordon Schottlander, a 95 year old veteran of the D-Day landings on the Beaches of Normandy in France.

Victoria AlSamadi, Mayor’s Chief of Communications & Strategic Advisor wrote the citizen who made the original request saying:

I wanted to reach out on behalf of the Mayor, and team, regarding yesterday’s International Holocaust Day and your request to see the flags at City Hall lowered.

Please know that the Mayor and team consider it an important day of remembrance and pause – to ensure we never forget what happened and so that this never happens again.

We take every opportunity to oppose discrimination on any ground. It’s a significant date for the world, for humanity, and also personally for the Mayor, as we acknowledge the murder of six million Jews for no other reason than being Jewish as well as millions more. The crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis touch people of every background, religion, race, sexual orientation and disability, as well as our veteran community who found a way to help end the war so we can live in peace and acceptance of all people.

The Mayor has recently been invited to participate in a trip to Auschwitz to learn more and honour the victims of this heinous act of evil and she is working toward booking that in the near future.

In planning for this event, we decided to recognize this important day via social media posts as we have come to see over the past year that this is the most effective way to reach the largest audience and spread important messages in a timely and impactful manner for the Mayor. As you may know, there was also a minute of silence at council last night.

We also had planned (and will) lower the flags on April 21st, for Yom HaShoah, the day of Remembrance for Holocaust victims marked by many Canadians. Going forward, as a result of the additional request to lower the flags for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we will do that next year and in the future.

We realize how important adding a flag lowering to this occasion is to the community and are committed to doing this going forward to ensure our community sees every manner at our disposal being used to mark this day.

I assure you that we welcome all residents to partner with us and request the flag to be lowered ahead of all dates of importance to our community. If you or any other citizens have occasions you would like to see the flag lowered in the future, please do reach out to us at mayor@burlington.ca and we will make it happen.