Angry in the Great White North

Stephen Taylor highlights another gaffe from Liberal MP Hedy Fry.  In her latest bit of silliness, she's upset that Canada's ambassador to Poland did not fly the rainbow flag at the embassy:

Letter to Polish Ambassador Daniel Costello

Published on July 9, 2010
July 8, 2010

Ambassador Daniel Costello
ul . Jana Matejki
1/5 00-481 Warsaw
Poland
Dear Ambassador,

I am writing to you regarding an issue that has reverberated across Canada and about which I have received many complaints. The refusal of the Canadian Embassy in Poland to fly the rainbow flag during the Euro Pride Festivities in Warsaw is an affront to Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, rule of law and stated values.

She goes on at some length.  I encourage you to read the whole thing at Stephen Taylor's blog, not because Hedy Fry has written something particularly insightful (true to form, she has not), but because Stephen Taylor deserves the traffic for highlighting that Daniel Costello is not the "Polish Ambassador" but "Canada's Ambassador to Poland".

I would like to take a run at Hedy Fry, but from a different angle.  What rules cover the flying of flags?  As it is, the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 describes the rules in precise terms:

Article 29

Use of national flag and coat-of-arms

1. The sending State shall have the right to the use of its national flag and coat-of-arms in the receiving State in accordance with the provisions of this article.
2. The national flag of the sending State may be flown and its coat-of-arms displayed on the building occupied by the consular post and at the entrance door thereof, on the residence of the head of the consular post and on his means of transport when used on official business.
3. In the exercise of the right accorded by this article regard shall be had to the laws, regulations and usages of the receiving State.

Re-read the first line.  The sending State shall have the right to the use of its national flag, not any old flag it cares to run up the pole.  Just its national flag.

Does this exclude other flags?  I think it does.  Legal texts are supposed to be read literally.  If a right is given for one specific thing, it does not follow that the right is extended to other things that are not that specific thing.  The use of flags on consular properties is a privilege granted by the receiving State that overrides local rules regarding the flying of flags, which might restrict the flying of flags of other nations, for example, or flags that promote a political agenda.  An exception is granted for the national flag of the sending State so that the identity of the sending State occupying the consular property is clearly communicated.  Being able to identify the sending State is important for the purposes of international relations, and so the exception is granted.

But for the national flag only.

It's not unlike the Geneva Convention in 1949 (which covers all four conventions going back to 1864 regarding the conduct of warfare).  The Geneva Convention requires a soldier to wear the uniform of his countries, and only that uniform.  Not the uniform of an allied country.  Not the uniform of an enemy country.  Not the uniform of a non-military organization, or civilian clothes either.  Identification matters, and there are severe consequences for the soldier fighting out of (the correct) uniform if he is captured by the enemy.

It seems reasonable to me to think that the Vienna Convention is meant to be read as strictly when it comes to flying flags at a consular location as the Geneva Convention is when it comes to the what uniform a solder is allowed to wear.

So to Hedy Fry, besides the fact that this "issue" has not "reverberated across the country", the simple fact is that Canada's ambassador to Poland might not enjoy the leeway you think he has to turn Canada's consular office into the billboard for whatever social cause du jour has caught your fancy.

I might be wrong on that.  But I for one think that the only flag that ought to be raised at Canada's embassies around the world is Canada's flag.  My sense of Canadian pride tells me I'm right.  I think the Vienna Convention backs me up on that.  I invite Hedy Fry to read it before spouting off.  If she's too busy ranting, then maybe the Liberal Party ought to assign a minder to her.  Someone whose job is to keep her out of trouble.  At the very least, a minder might have caught that "Polish Ambassador" gaffe.  If I'm right regarding the flag rules, then that's two mistakes in one.

Hedy Fry has been caught before speaking before thinking.  It would be embarrassing for her if it has happened again.

URLs don't lie: Hedy Fry was caught by Stephen Taylor making the boneheaded error of calling Daniel Costello the Polish Ambassador.  The Liberal Party website administrators changed the text on the web page at the Liberal website, but because their site software includes the name of the page in the URL (unlike my software, which, by way of contrast, generates a serial number to name each page address instead of a wordy title), the URL for Hedy Fry's silly letter still identifies the page as 18489_letter-to-polish-ambassador-daniel-costello.