A deputy returning officer and a poll clerk working at an advance poll in Thornhill last weekend say they were told to remove their Maple Leaf pins or they would lose their jobs.

Mike Zichowski and Augustin Marcu both tell the Toronto Sun that a supervisor at the St. Anthony School polling station spotted them with the tiny lapel pins last Sunday.

He told them the flags could be construed as symbols of the Liberal party and must be removed.

“It’s shameful,” Zichowski said. “The flag doesn’t belong to any one party.”

Marcu said a voter gave them the pins. The woman belongs to a group that’s been lobbying the government to make Flag Day, the day which honours the creation of the Canadian flag in February, a national holiday.

“Before she left, she pulled a little bag from her purse and gave us Canada flag pins,” Marcu said. “Without even thinking, we put them on our lapels.”

The pair wore the postage stamp-sized pins for about an hour before they were told to remove them.

“This is the flag for crying out loud,” Marcu said. “We were really shocked.”

Zichowski said they’ve already drafted a letter to complain to Elections Canada and plan to file it after Monday’s vote.

“We didn’t say anything at the time,” he said. “But it really hurt and it has really bothered me since.”

Elections Canada spokesman Dugald Maudsley said there are no rules against workers wearing a Maple Leaf pin at the polls.

“There are prohibitions on things like wearing the Liberal colours or any party’s colours or a slogan that supports one party or another,” he said.

Maudsley said he couldn’t comment on the specific case because it could become an issue the agency’s human resources department investigates.

“It will be taken very seriously,” he said. “It will be examined. That person will receive a response. ... We can’t comment any further on that case.”

shawn.jeffords@sunmedia.ca