On Thursday evening, February 5, hundreds of Iranian 'Lion and Sun' flags and Canadian flags filled the area surrounding the flagpole in front of Richmond Green Sports Centre in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The event marked a flag raising for the historic flag of Iran prior to 1979.

Securing a flag raising event for the Lion and Sun flag is often not an easy process because it is not currently recognized as the official flag of Iran. Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Islamic regime took control of the country and imposed a new national flag in 1980.

This is not the flag the Iranian people identify with. It has no connection to their history, nor does it carry the ancient symbolism that the Lion and Sun represents for them.

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The current regime seized the country by force and now holds nearly 90 million citizens hostage, massacring tens of thousands simply for demanding basic freedoms. The official flag of the Islamic Republic represents that oppression. The Lion and Sun flag represents Iran’s rich history and the freedom Iranians hope for.

I spoke with event organizer and founder of the International Centre for Human Rights, Ardeshir Zarezadeh, who filed the application to raise Iran’s historic flag in Richmond Hill. He told me that while approval was difficult to obtain, the city eventually agreed to move forward as a show of solidarity with the Iranian people.

Zarezadeh also filed two applications directly to Toronto City Hall to raise the Iranian flag there, both of which were rejected.

In contrast to this denial, Toronto City Hall approved a flag raising for the Palestinian flag in November 2025. Palestine is not a country and never has been.

Yet after Mark Carney recognized Palestine as a state without any parliamentary process, the flag raising was approved, while Iran’s true flag has now been rejected multiple times.

There is little doubt that politics play a role in this decision. As a result, Iranians must turn to other GTA municipalities to see their true flag raised, while a flag created in 1988 — used for a non-existent state — was approved in Canada’s largest city.