Musquash man criticized for protest against Canadian flag

Caledon man angers veterans by flying Canadian flags upside down.

JUL 20, 2016 AT 7:14 PM EDT

A Caledon man has angered residents and insulted veterans by flying several Canadian flags upside down, but a local councillor says it’s within the man’s rights to do so.

Rick Ainsley says he’s flying the flags upside down at his home on Mayfield Road to protest the Town of Caledon’s inaction on environmental issues.

“This has absolutely nothing to do with the military,” he maintains. “My family fought for this country. It’s stupid that I don’t have the right to stand up for our rights as Canadians.

“There’s no disrespect to the veterans.”

But veterans like Joe Brown and Harry Geddis can’t help but take it personally.

“This guy should be arrested,” Brown barked. “He should be put in jail. He’s insulting the country. I served in the Canadian army, I’m a veteran. It’s a highly insulting action from him…I find it offensive.”

“I think it’s a disgrace,” added Geddis. “He shouldn’t be allowed to do it.

“He says he’s not trying to insult veterans, but he is. Anybody whose father died for Canada or our Allied Forces deserves some respect.”

But while many find his protest disrespectful, it’s not criminal.

“It’s not illegal to fly the flag upside down,” confirmed Caledon councillor Joanna Downey. “The gentleman is well within his rights to do so.

“Most people see it as a sign of disrespect and we see it that way as well.”

Downey hopes a resolution can reached.

“I encourage this resident to submit his concerns as he’s been invited to,” she said.

http://www.citynews.ca/2016/07/20/caledon-man-angers-veterans-by-flying-canadian-flags-upside-down/

nemo - I'm with you there. What a fracking waste of cdn taxpayer money. The brits can have there inbreds,,I was watching the queen bday for all but 30 secs the other day, and thought what a huge waste of money..Just the thoughts of this old Rad Op for today. VVV...

I guess he has the freedom to do as he wants with the flag. Seems he must be joined at the hip to Great Britain. Hope he sings God Save the Queen before he goes to bed each night.

We as a nation may be part of the greater Commonwealth but we are not British. Why would I want the flag of imperialism?

As far as I am concerned, it is time that we stopped paying obeisance to the British royal family. I have great respect for QE2 and think she has done a wonderful job as Queen. And if the Brits want to keep the royal family....good for them. But I see no need for Canada to continue to have the British royal family are part of our system...even tho it is ceremonial. I have no allegiance to the Queen or any member of the British family. One can say it is custom. Sure...But then so once was depriving women and FN people of the electoral vote. That changed and so can our countries obeisance to the British unelected royal family.

Musquash man criticized for protest against Canadian flag.

Man hangs 4 Canadian flags upside down on fence, says country should still use Red Ensign.

A man in Musquash is protesting the Canadian flag by displaying it upside down, and has upset some neighbours in the process.

Ivan Morgan, 78, hangs four Canadian flags upside down on his fence, in plain view of the road, to deliberately show his disrespect for the Maple Leaf.

He believes the current flag does not represent the freedom and rights of Canadians.

"I want to show I don't have any use for the red Maple Leaf flag," said Morgan. "When you see a red maple leaf, what do you see? A dead maple leaf. Canada is not dead. But a lot of the politicians running Canada are brain dead."

Morgan said the current flag was not the flag under which his father and grandfather fought in the Korean War and the two World Wars.

He said the rightful Canadian flag should be the Red Ensign, the flag used until 1965. Morgan said he is a former member of the Armed Forces.

Doesn't care what neighbours think

Neighbours have protested about his display of upside-down Canadian flags on a wire fence facing the South Musquash road, but he says he does not care what people think, and won't take them down.

"He has a point," said James Irving, current grounds supervisor at Branch 69 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Saint John, "because we left thousands of boys and girls, men and women overseas under the Union Jack. It was the flag they died for and died under."

He says a lot of the older veterans respect the old flag but they also know that a lot of soldiers lost their lives under the new flag as well.

He thinks they would not agree with Morgan: "They would be utterly appalled."

"For what we did in Afghanistan that's the flag they were under. So he is disrespecting the 183 boys and girls we brought home from Afghanistan, and Somalia, the three or four that passed away there. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, that's the flag they all went under."

Irving said the flags might end up hurting Morgan. "Being a veteran myself I just have to look at it and say shame and sad. There is no point to it."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/canadian-flag-musquash-n-b-red-ensign-maple-leaf-1.3633393