Dauphin-area school division revives ‘outdated’ royal anthem tradition; rainbow, treaty flags banned

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This article was published 25/02/2025 (283 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dauphin-area schools are once again being asked to play the royal anthem daily to align themselves with a dusty and controversial government regulation that has not been enforced in 30 years.

Ward 4 trustee Jarri Thompson said she was “deeply disappointed” by what was decided during the latest board meeting in the Mountain View School Division.

”God Save the King will be making its return to our schools,” Thompson wrote in a post on social media. “Let me be clear: My kids won’t be standing. If that’s a problem, so be it.”

During a 75-minute meeting filled with heated debate, the board of trustees discussed the God Save the King protocol and a new policy that bans the flying of rainbow and treaty flags, as well as others that are not official national, provincial or school emblems.

Board chair Jason Gryba announced that area schools would soon introduce God Save the King based on “legal counsel” and a related note will be posted on the division’s website.

The Schools Patriotic Observances Regulation states that every regular school day in Manitoba must begin with pupils singing the national anthem, while either opening exercises or end-of-day ones should include the first verse of the royal anthem.

The Manitoba government is currently reviewing the rule that Education Minister Tracy Schmidt called “outdated” and indicated her office is not interested in enforcing.

Mountain View senior administration issued marching orders to update daily announcements to include the royal anthem, a seven-line song that pays tribute to King Charles, last month.

The change was spearheaded by Gryba; he previously said the division is responsible to ensure compliance with provincial rules, but did not explain what prompted his sudden motivation to follow the old-fashioned protocol.

The tradition was slated to be renewed in MVSD classrooms as of on Jan. 16, but there were delays in the rollout related to reprogramming internal public address systems.

When other board members learned of the directive, they sought clarification about it. The board voted to pause enforcement on Jan. 27.

The Monarchist League of Canada has endorsed the reinstatement of the royal anthem, but multiple Dauphin residents appeared at a subsequent board meeting to express their concerns.

Earlier this month, Lisa Gaudet told trustees reviving the observance was “an outrageously outdated practice” that she called regressive, antiquated and offensive.

“It is a relic of a time when British imperial rule was enforced globally at the expense of local communities,” the mother of two recent high school graduates said on Feb. 10.

“Mandating a subservience disregards the historical harm inflicted by colonial policies, including the dispossession of land, cultural genocide and the integenerational trauma stemming from residential schools.”

A strict school division flag etiquette policy was among the other contentious items on Monday’s meeting agenda. Five board members voted to rescind it, but the chair indicated six was required for quorum.

“I don’t identify with the Canada flag, given our history,” said Scott Lynxleg, a Ward 2 representative from Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, located about 100 kilometres northwest of Dauphin.

“Plain and simple, we just wanted to add on the Treaty 2, Treaty 4 and the Métis flags to be flown at all the schools.”

Lynxleg said the dismissal of those symbols is disrespectful and ironic, given treaty acknowledgements are embedded into board and division operations.

Manitoba schools typically start every day with O Canada, a land acknowledgement and local announcements.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca