Toronto city council votes to ban flying of foreign flags at City Hall and civic centres
Toronto City Council has voted to end the practice of raising other countries’ flags at City Hall and civic centres.
The vote took place Thursday night on a motion originally put forward by Councillor John Burnside of Don Valley East, and seconded by Michael Thompson of Scarborough Centre. The motion passed by a vote of 19 to 7.
Toronto’s decision follows a similar vote by Calgary City Council , which voted 8-7 in favour of a ban last December.
“Your council has banned the flying of foreign flags, which have become symbols of hate and division,” Mayor Jeromy Farkas said at the time.
The Toronto motion , “One Country, One Flag; Celebrating the Canadian Flag,” originally called for the elimination of flying flags of foreign nations, effectively immediately.
It was amended to include “any flags which include the depiction of a foreign nation’s flag,” and the effective date was moved to Dec. 1, 2026. Flag raisings currently booked will take place until then.
The city notes that the ban does not apply to the flags of Indigenous and Treaty partners, the Intersex Pride flag, the Black Liberation flag, flags of professional sport organizations, or flags of cities that are part of Toronto’s International Alliance program.
The original motion also suggested the elimination of flags requested by non-profit or charitable organizations, but that item was removed before the final vote.
Councillor Lily Cheng spoke out against the motion before the vote, telling the council: “I really struggle with this decision because we live in the most diverse city in the world … Diversity is hard, and just because something is hard doesn’t mean we should shy away from it. In fact, we should embrace the difficulties, because that’s how we build trust and relationships.”
She added: “I understand why we want to do this because there’s safety implications and costs with policing, but I do feel we are taking away one of the pillars of how we make this city beautiful in terms of the diversity and the tapestries that we weave together.”
Councillor Nick Mantas said he echoed those remarks and added: “We’re basically penalizing 160 countries that we recognize in our city for a few groups. So I’m against the way that we’re going about this.”
In a separate motion, council speaker Frances Nunziata ruled that a motion submitted by Cheng to raise the pre-Revolutionary “lion and sun” flag of Iran at the North York Civic Centre was out of order and could not be debated.
Nunziata said the motion amounted to “overriding delegated authority and seeking to establish policy beyond the jurisdiction of city of Toronto,” since the flag in question was not recognized by the federal government .
“Council cannot make a determination that is within the jurisdiction of Global Affairs Canada,” she said. “For these reasons, I rule (the motion) out of order.”
Flags on the City Hall courtesy flag pole this year to date have included the Empower2Recover flag for mental health; the Scouts Canada flag for Scout/Guide week; the Irish flag for St. Patrick’s Day; and flags of Grenada, Kosovo, Saint Lucia, Estonia, the Dominican Republic and others in honour of those countries’ Independence Day.
The most recent raising was the Blue Jays on Friday, marking the season home opener for the team.
While many flag raisings may go almost unnoticed — Toronto City Hall records more than 70 last year — some have caused disturbances and backlash.
Last November, following Canada’s official recognition of the State of Palestine, the Palestinian flag was raised, an event that Jewish groups in the city protested.
“Commemorating this moment, in the context of rising antisemitism in Canada, is not only insensitive but also reckless and irresponsible,” Richard Robertson, B’nai Brith’s director of research and advocacy, said at the time, adding that the Palestinian Liberation Organization ideology “precluded the notion of Jewish self-determination, promoted antisemitism, glorified hate-motivated violence and perpetuated hostilities in the region.”
In 2024, Toronto mayor Olivia Chow said declined to attend the raising of Israel’s flag to mark its national day, referring to the conflict in Gaza. “I think it’s a bit divisive because there’s a war going on,” she said of her decision.