Saskatoon city hall rejects flying historic Iranian flag
CBC
Pooyan Arab wants to support the people of Iran as they struggle against an oppressive regime by flying the nation's historic flag at Saskatoon city hall.
But city hall administration rejected the request from Arab, the executive director of the Saskatoon Iranian Cultural Association, saying it violates a recent rule change prohibiting raising the flags of "other countries."
Arab appealed the denial, arguing that the request involved a traditional flag that has not been used for nearly 50 years, since before the 1979 Iranian revolution, not the current flag adopted by the Islamic republic governing Iran.
City council will decide on the appeal next week.
"So it doesn't make sense to say a flag that has been once used can never be raised," Arab said in an interview on Thursday. "Iranians have had flags going back thousands of years. None of them can be raised? I don't see that as reasonable."
The association wants to fly the flag at city hall on March 21, the first day of the Persian new year. City hall changed its policy in September to prohibit flags of other countries, citing a recent move by Regina city hall to do the same.
Regina changed its policy in January 2025 in the wake of the cancellation of a planned event to raise the Palestinian flag at its city hall in 2024.
Saskatoon city clerk Adam Tittemore replied to the association's request to fly the Iranian flag by saying he viewed the policy as applying to any flag associated with a nation.
Arab said he and others see the previous flag of Iran, featuring a lion brandishing a sword in front of the sun, as the symbol of freedom for Iranian people and not as representing the state.
The current flag of Iran features the same green, white and red stripes, but with Arabic script and an Islamic symbol instead of the lion.
Arab said the association made a request to fly a different flag three years ago, but was told by Saskatoon city hall that it too closely resembled the official state flag of Iran.
Tittemore confirmed Thursday that the decision three years ago was made because the flag in question was a "modified" version of the flag of a country with which Canada did not have diplomatic relations.
About 3,000 Iranian Canadians call Saskatoon home, according to Arab.
Arab said it's important to send a message to the people fighting for freedom in Iran, particularly after the regime's military slaughtered thousands of protesters in January. Iran's government has imposed a severe blackout of information and the Internet, Arab noted.
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