Trudeau says Canadian flags won't be raised until Indigenous communities and leadership make determination to raise them

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that flags on federal buildings, which have been lowered since May 30 in response to the remains of children at a former residential school, will not be raised until a joint determination is reached.

On Friday during a press conference, Trudeau said that "he won't raise flags on federal buildings until indigenous communities & leadership make a 'clear determination' that it's time to raise them again."

The flags were lowered at federal buildings in response to the discovery of the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.

Since then, nearly 1,000 more unmarked graves have been discovered at other former residential schools across Canada.

In June, 751 unmarked graves were found at the site of the former Marieval Residential School in Saskatchewan.

Just one week after that discovery, another 182 unmarked graves were discovered at the site of the former St. Eugene's Mission School in British Columbia.

Trudeau ordered the flags to continue to be flown at half mast for Canada Day, saying the decision came as "people across the country continue to honour the Indigenous children whose lives were taken far too soon, and as [Canada] reflects on the tragedy of residential schools."