Waving flags: Sudbury's Bridge of Nations gets new additions

Seven new flags will be raised along Sudbury's Bridge of Nations today, representing the heritage of people in the Nickel City from Barbados, Burundi, Egypt, Indonesia, Tunisia and Nepal and Palestine.

Fahmi Azzeh of Palestine has lived in Sudbury since 1969, and said though his home is a nation and not a sovereign country, he's proud of its flag. 

"It was my honour to see it. I was ... very, very proud," he said. "I see the Israeli flag on one side [of the bridge], and our flag on one side — hopefully, you know, they join together and become peaceful." 

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Francois Nzotungwanimana is one of 50 Burundians living in Sudbury. The engineer has lived here fro the last six years. 

He said the raising of his country's flag is a "point of pride."

"If you were born even here, and grew up here, it's part of your identity."

Triangle flag

Keen-eyed observers will also note a flag of an unusual configuration flying on the bridge into downtown Sudbury: the Nepali flag is the only one in the world that is two triangles rather than a rectangle. 

"I think what it represents is we have a lot of mountains in Nepal," explained Pradyumna Regmi, who was born and raised in Nepal, but now works in Sudbury. 

Listen to the complete interview with Pradyumna Regmi​ on CBC radio's Morning North here.