FREDERICTON – A week after the province came under fire for not allowing Leo Hayes High School to fly a pride flag, Premier David Alward is asking for a review of New Brunswick’s flag policy.
On May 22, Leo Hayes High School student launched a petition asking the New Brunswick government to allow schools to fly the pride flag.
Tianna Whelan’s petition says Premier David Alward sent the school an email stating they weren’t allowed to raise the pride flag “due to a law that says no non-official flags can be flown on public property.”
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“I think all schools should be allowed to raise the pride flag,” Whelan said in an interview with Global News. “It’s an amazing show of tolerance and acceptance and diversity and why would you not want to send that message to your students.”
Whelan says the past two years Leo Hayes High School has raised the pride flag in front of the school in celebration of Pride Week, a week the school’s Gay Straight Alliance organizes.
Alward said he wouldn’t allow the flag to fly because it didn’t fit the province’s rules for flags outside public buildings.
But since then, the Premier has confirmed they are revisiting the policy.
“What I’m pleased to do is engage and encourage the executive committee on inclusive education to look at what is going on and bring forward recommendations,” he said.
As of Wednesday, Whelan’s petition has almost 1,500 supporters.
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