WATCH: Confederate flag flying outside of Hamilton home

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Published April 25, 2022 at 4:57 pm

A post from a Hamilton-area nurse and podcaster about a symbol of white supremacy displayed at a home in the city is going viral.

On Sunday, Amie Archibald-Varley, a registered nurse in the Hamilton-Niagara region, posted a video to her Twitter account showing a home where the Confederate battle flag was displayed on a pole by the front porch. The flag has a 160-year association with slavery and white supremacy dating to the U.S. Civil War in the 1860s, when it was displayed by soldiers fighting for the Confederate states, where slavery was legal. In recent years, its display has been banned by many institutions in the United States, including the U.S. Marine Corps and NASCAR.

“For those people who didn’t believe when I said, ‘yeah, there’s a Confederate flag in our neighbourhood,’ there you go,” Archibald-Varley says in a video that has been viewed more than 67,000 times in under 24 hours. “This is Hamilton, Ontario. Welcome to Hamilton, Ontario.”

‘Our home, our community and our city too’

Archibald-Varley, who is Black and Jamaican Canadian, later wrote a thread calling on Hamilton residents to condemn hate and elect leaders who are more invested in anti-racism. She noted the response from the City of Hamilton Twitter account advised her to call the Hamilton Police Service and did not take a line against racism.

“Does this racist crap bother you? Do you want to help but do not know how?” she wrote on Monday. Help us inform laws (and/or) policies that stop HATE in its tracks. This can be done through voting for leaders who care about anti-racism. Standing in solidarity with us condoning hate in any and ALL forms.

“If you are sick of seeing it, trust me, us racialized folks are sick of feeling it. We need to know that others care about us. We need to be validated that this type of behaviour is not OK. This is our home, our community and our city too.

“I’m not going away. I have a small family to raise and this is about their future too,” added Archibald-Varley, who co-hosts a popular podcast about healthcare issues called Gritty Nurse. “I do not think asking for equity, respect, dignity and empathy are too much to ask for. I will continue to push for change and accountability here in Hamilton, Ontario.”

In Canada, the display or purchase of a Confederate flag is not illegal. Under section 319 of Criminal Code, its use is illegal if it used to promote or incite hatred or violence against an identifiable group. Canadian courts have tended to have a narrow definition of prohibited individual or group expression.

The Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion pointed out that the City of Hamilton has banned the Confederate flag and Nazi swastika from all municipal property.

Some municipalities are exploring ways to discourage display of the flag on private property. Municipal councils in Collingwood, Ont., and Stratford, Ont., both passed resolutions last year variously calling on the senior levels of government to make the flag’s display a hate crime, or amend S. 319 of the Criminal Code.

The resolution passed by the Collingwood council suggested that any federal legislation include “explicit recognition of the psychological harm that can be caused by hateful symbols.”

(Cover photo via Twitter/Amie Archibald-Varley.)

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