Here’s why you saw an American Flag during this year’s Canada Day parade

Members of the Warrior Marching Band from Lakeside Lutheran High School – located all the way in Lake Mills, Wis. – lead their troupe in the Stratford Canada Day parade on July 1, a show of solidarity and mutual respect in the wake of rising Canada-U.S. relations.

CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Spectators might have seen an odd sight at this year’s Canada Day parade: a lone American flag flying amid the hundreds of Canadian flags that marched through Stratford streets.

The flag was held by members of the Lakeside Lutheran High School Warrior Marching Band, all the way from Lake Mills, Wis.

Glen Pufahl, director of bands at the school, told the Times that the band was starting a 15-day eastern tour, which veered into southwestern Ontario for a stint before ending in New England. By chance, they were in the country on July 1 and wanted to join a local parade.

“When we're looking through to see who has a parade on this day, Stratford popped up on our radar,” Pufahl said. “And so we kept it on our hopeful schedule, if that works out, as far as the schedule goes. And it did work out.”

The Canadian-American relationship has been more tenuous in recent months, due mainly to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and his repeated public call to make Canada the “51st state,” though for Pufahl and the band, this was an opportunity to show that the time-honoured relationship can weather the storm.

“We love Canada,” Pufahl said. “We’ve always loved Canadians; Canadians have always been welcoming to us … I think this is a really great thing for us to continue to do, to keep that friendship there. We’re marching with both American and Canadian flags everywhere we go this year.”

Pufahl, speaking just minutes before the evening parade was about to start, shared that the band had earlier marched in Windsor that day for its morning parade. Other than one vocal heckler, Pufahl said that the crowd was as welcoming as ever.

Stratford Mayor Martin Ritsma, who has faced repeated calls to lower American flags on City of Stratford property since Trump began talking about a 51st state, has long held that the bond between Canadians and Americans goes beyond this political moment.

He said that when he got Pufahl’s phone call asking to be involved in this year’s parade, he questioned Pufahl but ultimately felt that their inclusion was a boon to the parade – and for their respective countries’ relationship.

“There’s not a more timely time than now to say, ‘This is bigger than the present moment,” Ritsma said. “(Our relationship) goes hundreds of years back and it’ll go hundreds of years forward. And for youth to be part of that, saying ‘Yeah, we want to maintain that relationship’ … I thought it was serendipitous.”