Sarah Burke is to be honoured in Ottawa today.
The flag that has been flying on top of the Peace Tower will be given to the family of the late freestyle skier on Saturday, a tribute to her legacy on this year’s National Flag of Canada Day.
Each year on Feb. 15, the flag is given to “a great Canadian who has merited recognition of his or her fellow countrymen,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Friday.
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Burke, who fought to get her sport included at the 2014 Winter Olympics, died after a training accident in 2012.
Giving the flag to Burke’s family is a “fitting tribute,” Harper said, especially because the Sochi Olympic Games are underway.
The International Olympic Committee prevented athletes from wearing a patch on their uniforms honouring Burke earlier in the games. Rule 50 of the IOC’s Olympic Charter says, “No form of publicity or propaganda, commercial or otherwise, may appear on persons, on sportswear, accessories or, more generally, on any article of clothing or equipment whatsoever worn or used by the athletes or other participants in the Olympic Games…”
READ MORE: Olympic snowboarders told they cannot honour Sarah Burke during competition
Feb. 15 was declared National Flag of Canada Day in 1996. The Maple Leaf was adopted as Canada’s official flag on Feb. 15, 1965, when it was hoisted for the first time.
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