The Peel District School Board will celebrate Pride month and National Indigenous History month by allowing their flags to be raised at its schools.

Trustees voted on May 22 to allow the Pride flag and an Indigenous flag to be hung and raised at schools during the month of June to celebrate, but also to send a message of acceptance and inclusion.

“Public education plays a role in upholding the inherent dignity and worth of all persons,” Peel District School Board chair Janet McDougald said.

Peel follows school boards in Toronto, Durham, Halton and York who have all flown the Pride flag outside of their schools. The board introduced the motion on May 8 after hearing a number of delegations urging them to raise the flag, saying it was an “equity issue.”

While the Pride flag is easily recognizable with its rainbow colours, the board has yet to decide which Indigenous flag they will raise at schools.

“We’re still consulting with the community,” board spokesperson Carla Pereira said.

Among Indigenous partners who are being consulted include the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation. Pereira added that the decision has received “overwhelming support from our communities.”

Before the motion passed, the Canadian flag was the only flag permitted to be raised in Peel schools.

