Flag Protocol

UBC’s Okanagan Campus has four flags in the main courtyard: Canada, British Columbia, Okanagan Nation Alliance and The University of British Columbia. The Ceremonies and Protocol team is responsible for the protocol around the use of and (when required) the lowering of flags.

Questions? Contact Ceremonies and Protocol if you have questions regarding flag protocol. If you wish to borrow flags for your campus event, see Event Planning Resources.

Protocol and Lowering

For the rules for flying the Canadian Flag, visit the Canadian Heritage site. The rules for flying other flags at UBC are based on this same etiquette.

Flags at UBC Okanagan may be lowered for:

  • alignment with Canadian Heritage protocol
  • the passing of a member of the campus community (in accordance with the family’s wishes)
  • days of recognition, where the UBC flag is occasionally replaced by other flags (e.g. the Pride flag being flown during Outweek)

Flag Lowering Notifications

RSS https://ur.ok.ubc.ca/category/flag-lowering/feed/

  • Dr. Aisha Ravindran
    Flags at UBC Okanagan will be lowered on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, in memory of Dr. Aisha Ravindran, Associate Professor of Teaching, who passed away on March 8 in Kelowna. Our sincere condolences to Dr. Ravindran’s family, friends and colleagues. The Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies is hosting a Celebration of Life on Wednesday, […]
  • National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women
    The Canada, BC, Okanagan Nation Alliance and UBC Flags at UBC Okanagan campus and the Canada flag (at Flagpole Plaza) and the BC, Musqueam and UBC flags (temporarily relocated to the East Mall Entrance and Plaza at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre) on the UBC Vancouver campus will be lowered on Tuesday, December 6 […]
  • Remembrance Day
    The Canada, BC, Okanagan Nation Alliance and UBC Flags at UBC Okanagan campus and the BC, Musqueam and UBC flags (temporarily relocated to the East Mall Entrance and Plaza at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre) on the UBC Vancouver campus will be lowered on Friday, November 11, in recognition of Remembrance Day. The UBC Remembrance Day ceremony […]

See past flag lowering notifications

Okanagan Nation Alliance flag

Musqueam and Okanagan Nation Alliance Flags

Each campus of UBC sits on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of its host nation: Musqueam in Vancouver, and the Syilx Okanagan Nation in the Okanagan.

On Sept. 27, 2018, the Okanagan campus raised the Okanagan Nation Alliance flag for the first time on its permanent pole in the courtyard. And in Vancouver, the Musqueam flag was raised on its permanent pole on February 25, 2019.

The flags formally signify UBC’s recognition of Indigenous peoples in whose lands the university resides, and add to a growing visible Indigenous presence on both campuses that includes bilingual signs providing alternate street names in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ and nsyilxcn Indigenous languages.

Each campus has marked National Indigenous Peoples Day by temporarily raising the flag of its host First Nation in place of the university’s flag.