Moncton to see Mi'kmaq flag fly permanently outside City Hall

To mark National Indigenous People's Day, the Mi'kmaq flag will be raised Friday at Moncton City Hall and will be flown there permanently.

The Mi'kmaq Grand Council flag joins the Canadian, New Brunswick, United Kingdom, Acadian and Moncton flags already flying outside the building.

"I'm very excited about it," said Susan Levi-Peters, former chief of Elsipogtog First Nation. "It's long overdue and it's something very positive for the city and for my people."

The flag has a red cross, a five-pointed star in one corner and a crescent moon in another corner.

The city decided to add the flag after it was approached by a group of students with Katimavik, a national youth volunteer program.

At the end of last year, a group of young people were in the city as part of the program, which has been organizing projects across the country to develop links with Indigenous​ communities.

There, Levi-Peters taught the group of about 16 students about residential schools and Indigenous culture.

After, the students asked Levi-Peters if she would be interested in speaking with the mayor and city council about a permanent place for the Mi'kmaq flag outside City Hall to address truth and reconciliation.

The Indigenous activist immediately jumped on board.

"They're young adults that want to be our future leaders, maybe one of them will be the future prime minister of Canada," she said. "It's an exciting time for First Nation people."

Hopeful other cities will do the same

During their presentation in December, she said, the group received a positive response from the city and Mayor Dawn Arnold.

"They made us feel very welcome," she said.

After the presentation, the group continued to follow up with council and the decision to fly the flag was approved this spring.

Levi-Peters said this type of initiative wouldn't have happened five years ago.

"When the leaders want unity, the people follow and when leaders want to learn more about us, then people are more interested," she said. "Then the truth comes out because we get to tell our story, but we also get to hear your story."

Although former prime minister Stephen Harper offered a formal apology to residential schools survivors in 2008, Susan Levi-Peters has been inspired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau putting the apology into action.

She said he's done this by personally visiting First Nations communities across Canada. He also called the murder and disappearance of Indigenous women and girls as a genocide.

"When you have the leader of Canada encouraging Canadians to get involved with First Nations or get to know us, I think it's very positive," she said.

"I see the difference of how the non-native react to us as First Nation people."

Now Levi-Peters is hoping other municipalities in New Brunswick will fly the Mi'kmaq flag.

Still standing and still proud

Levi-Peters said she will spend National Indigenous People's Day reflecting on Indigenous cultures and traditions. But she'll also be thinking about Canada's residential schools and how Indigenous communities are healing from them years later.

"Considering what we've been through, we're still standing and we're still proud."

She said National Indigenous People's Day is a positive way for New Brunswickers and Canadians to connect and learn from one another.

"It's a very good time for First Nation people," she said.