Alberta Town Bans Non-Governmental Flags From Public Property to Avoid ‘Ideological Debates’

People walk past a Pride flag crosswalk in Calgary on Aug. 18, 2019. The Canadian Press/Dave Chidley

An Alberta town has voted to ban decorative flags and crosswalks from town-owned property in an effort to keep municipal infrastructure “free from symbols associated with ideological debates.”

The Town of Didsbury, roughly an hour north of Calgary, passed the public spaces neutrality bylaw at a town council meeting on March 24.

The bylaw restricts the community to flying only official government flags on town property—including the town’s flag, the province of Alberta flag, and the Canadian flag. The bylaw also limits municipal streets to having “standardized road and crosswalk markings,” rather than being painted in “non-standard designs associated with specific causes or movements.”

When introducing the bylaw earlier this month, the town said it would aim to keep certain municipal facilities and infrastructure, including flagpoles, streets, and crosswalks, “free from symbols associated with ideological debates.”

The town said it seeks to ensure civic spaces feel “welcoming to residents of all viewpoints and backgrounds while also prioritizing clarity and consistency in municipal infrastructure.”

“Our town government exists to represent everyone who lives here,” Didsbury Mayor Chris Little said in a March 11 statement. “Maintaining politically neutral municipal spaces helps ensure every resident—regardless of their political beliefs or personal views—feels represented by their local government.”

The bylaw does not apply to displays or symbols on private property.

Other municipalities in Alberta have passed similar bylaws in recent years. The Alberta municipalities of Barrhead and Westlock also voted in 2024 to keep flag poles and crosswalks neutral on municipal property.

Residents in both communities had separately petitioned their town councils to create a neutrality bylaw to prohibit the flying of non-governmental flags on municipal property, and to keep crosswalks neutral.

The city of Cold Lake, Alberta, voted in 2023 not to create a rainbow-coloured crosswalk or a “7 Feathers” indigenous symbol crosswalk in the city after more than 50 percent of the public indicated they were against the idea.

Several school boards in other provinces have also restricted flags flown outside of schools to government flags only.

A school division in Nova Scotia similarly restricted the types of flags that are allowed to fly outside its schools in March 2025, saying non-governmental flags would be taken off flagpoles and displayed inside schools instead.

The school board said the initiative was meant to protect such flags from damage, noting flags flying outside of schools often get damaged or ripped and members of the community had complained about the condition of flags outside of schools.

A school board in Manitoba was challenged in February 2025 over its policy to restrict schools from flying flags other than Canadian, provincial, or school flags.

While some board members who wanted to change the policy had raised concerns of inclusion, other board members said the current policy already promoted inclusion by creating “welcoming and neutral” spaces and not making “distinctions” between groups.

The school board voted to keep its policy despite the challenge.

In Ontario, a Toronto-area Catholic school board rejected a proposal to allow non-governmental flags like the pride flag to be displayed on school flagpoles in June 2024. Meanwhile, another Toronto-area Catholic school board voted not to raise the Pride flag for Pride Month in 2023.

Carolina Avendano, Chandra Philip, and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.