City of Ottawa, City Clerk

Re: RE: Inspection of records under section 253 of the Municipal Act, 2001 - Flag Protocol procedures - Danilo Dzyuban

Hello,

Thank you for your answer of 16 September 2026 on the Flag Protocol procedures. It settles the question of authority, and I write on that footing.

You state that the Flag Protocol Procedures are a corporate administrative policy and that the City Clerk may approve, amend and rescind such policies under Schedule C, section 1.3 of the Delegation of Authority By-law. You also state that the Executive Committee that considered the Protocol was not a Committee of Council, but an internal administrative body of city staff.

Those two statements together mean that the rule governing which flags fly on City flagpoles has never been adopted by an elected body. It was approved by the Chief Corporate Services Officer on 22 June 2006 and revised by the City Clerk on 9 October 2017 and on 21 January 2020. The Protocol itself records, under Legislative and Administrative Authorities, the word "None". The only flags on City flagpoles that Council itself approved are the Algonquin Anishinabe Host Nation flags, by its decision of 28 February 2018.

The Protocol also refuses a flag raising where the views of the group are, in its words, politically or religiously motivated or represent other individual conviction, while other flags are raised on the same poles. A test of that kind decides which convictions the City displays and which it excludes, and it is applied under a delegated signature.

I ask you to exercise the delegated authority you have described, and to do so in writing.

1. Amend the Flag Protocol Procedures so that the City flagpoles carry the flags of Canada, of Ontario, of the City of Ottawa, and the Host Nation flags approved by Council on 28 February 2018, and so that any other flag raising requires a decision of Council

2. If you take the position that you cannot make that amendment, name the provision that limits the delegated authority you cited, and name the office that can

3. State the date on which your exercise of delegated authority in respect of the Flag Protocol will be reported to the Standing Committee, as the Delegation of Authority By-law requires at least once in each calendar year

4. Confirm in writing whether the Flag Protocol Procedures have at any time been approved, amended or rescinded by Council or by a Committee of Council, and if they have not, state that

I ask for your answer by 30 September 2026. The answer, whatever it is, will be published with your name and title as the officer who decided, and it will be placed before the Standing Committee and before Council when the Delegation of Authority By-law returns for amendment in December 2026.

Respectfully,
Danilo Dzyuban

Fwd: Re: RE: Inspection of records under section 253 of the Municipal Act, 2001 - Flag Protocol procedures - Danilo Dzyuban

Hello,

This is my letter to the City Clerk of 17 September 2026. It requires her to use the delegated authority she claims and strike the words on religious motivation from the Flag Protocol Procedures. Her answer is due on 30 September 2026.

Respectfully,

Danilo Dzyuban
Ottawa, Ontario [postal code]
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