PFLAG Canada is a national non-profit organization which brings together family and friends of LGBT people in Canada. It was begun separately and without knowledge of the American PFLAG which performs the same functions in the United States.
In the 1970s in Toronto, meetings of non-LGBT but welcoming family members were held under the banner of Parents Of Gays (POG). Changes were accelerated by Rev. Brent Hawkes of the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto, who brought Betty Fairchild, co-author of Now That You Know, to POG meetings. After POG was advertised in Chatelaine, Anne Rutledge of Mississauga contacted June Tattle (a friend of Fairchild and parent of a gay child), after which, in October 1981, POG was amalgamated with Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (FFLAG), started by Pauline Martin and her son Russell. The new organization was re-styled as Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, or Parents FLAG.
After a number of media appearances by Rutledge and other members of Parents FLAG, other chapters were established throughout Canada in the 1980s and 1990s. Finally, in 2003, the movement was nationally consolidated as PFLAG Canada, renamed so as to distinguish the organization from the American NGO of the same name. It was consolidated as a federal corporation in 2005, and all chapters were renamed as PFLAG Canada to reflect the changes.
The organization currently lists over 70 chapters throughout nine provinces.