The Survivors' Flag

Dear friends in Christ,

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report and 94 Calls to Action. With strong support from the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples, I invite all Anglican parishes in Canada to display the Survivors’ flag as a sign of awareness, acknowledgement and respect for residential school survivors, their families and communities.

At Sacred Circle in August, a survivor’s story planted the seed of this initiative in my heart. She described a ceremony she had attended a few years earlier at a corporate headquarters where a Survivors’ flag was raised. As the invited Elder, she opened the event with prayer, drumming, singing and smudging, honouring both the survivor raising the flag and the flag itself. She felt the strong presence of the Holy Spirit and was deeply moved by the respect shown by non-Indigenous participants. In that moment, she asked, “If a large corporation can do this, why can’t our churches?” From that question, the vision of a Survivors’ flag in every Anglican church was born—a symbol of recognition, respect and hope.

Like other symbols of inclusion and welcome, the presence of a Survivors’ flag (or even the image of one) announces that your parish is a place of safety, healing, understanding and reconciliation. Survivors’ flags are available in different sizes and formats from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, supporting education programs and survivor initiatives. To help bring to life the vision of a Survivors’ flag in every Anglican church, each diocesan cathedral will receive a flag this month. You can continue this work by displaying a flag in your parish, honouring survivors and their families and showing your commitment to reconciliation.

Education and prayer are part of our journey of right relationship. In addition to displaying the Survivors’ flag, I encourage you to learn about its significance and about the history of the residential schools. You will find prayer resources on anglican.ca.

When your parish displays a Survivors’ flag, please take a photo, send it to media@national.anglican.ca and consider posting it online. Sharing these images publicly will encourage others to join in and strengthen our collective commitment to reconciliation.

Yours in the reconciling love of Christ,

[signed] +Shane
The Most Rev. Shane Parker
Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada