Steps from the international ferry terminal, two Canadian flags flew upside down Wednesday morning.
“It is with the greatest respect for the flag … that I have chosen this action. I have inverted my flag as a time honoured sign of distress [until] mayor and council reverse their dreadful action of bylaw 2015,” wrote Ray Headrick on a letter posted on his front door on First Street.
Headrick wouldn’t elaborate when approached by the News Review.
He and a group of concerned residents also picketed outside Sidney municipal hall during its committee of the whole meeting Tuesday.
The group, led by Headrick, is concerned the zoning bylaw approved June 11 removes their ability to secure a mortgage and insurance, since it makes their properties non-conforming, among other worries.
Town staff and council, except Coun. Tim Chad who opposed the bylaw, disagree, saying several Sidney properties have been non-conforming for years and are mortgageable and insurable.
Flying a Canadian flag upside down is not illegal but it goes against protocol set out by Canadian Heritage.