The Free Press · October 13, 2026

Mississauga Council Approves Ban on National Flags at Celebration Square

• Election Day in Mississauga, Ontario, is October 26; Mayor Carolyn Parrish is seeking reelection, according to the report.
• Parrish proposed a ban on all national flags except Canada’s from Celebration Square, a city park; the report states the city council approved the ban in April.
• Speaking at a local mosque, in a video posted Friday on X cited in the report, Parrish said she met former Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat many years ago, that he gave her his keffiyeh, and that he made her an “honorary Palestinian.”
• In the same remarks, Parrish said the Palestinian flag had been raised in Mississauga, and that the ban followed because the next flag would have been the Israeli flag, which the city made sure was not raised, according to the report.
• Parrish’s written proposal to the city council stated that national flags had become a source of controversy and division, were taking up significant staff time, and were incurring legal costs, according to the council document linked in the report.

Council approval via CTV News, linked in the original report; mosque remarks via a video posted on X, cited in the original report; proposal wording via the Mississauga city council document linked in the original report. The piece is paywalled; facts are from its accessible portion. Original headline: "This Week in Canada: The Mayor Who Won’t Fly the Israeli Flag".