Flag of Canada

The National Flag of Canada, popularly known as the Maple Leaf and l'Unifolié (French for "the one-leaved"), is a base red flag with a white square in its centre featuring a stylized, 11-pointed, red maple leaf. The Maple Leaf Flag has been used officially since its adoption in 1965.

Canada, after the First World War, increasingly used various versions of the Canadian Red Ensign as the de facto national flag (along with the Union Jack). Mackenzie King, who was Prime Minister intermittently from the 1920s through the 1940s, had sought to introduce the use of the Red Ensign as an intermediate measure in inculcating among Canadians the idea of a distinctively Canadian national flag.

During the post-war years, there was much debate on a distinctive Canadian flag. The Union Jack had been used to varying degrees, as well as several designs of the Canadian Red Ensign. Both of these were very unpopular among French-Canadians due to their either being or incorporating the Royal Union flag, which was peceived as being only of the United Kingdom. Finally, in 1964 the present-day Canadian Flag was adopted by the Pearson government, though not without controversy, especially from war veterans. Ontario and Manitoba responded by adopting the Red Ensign with their own provincial shields in the fly as their provincial flags (see Flag of Ontario; Flag of Manitoba). The Flag of British Columbia already had the Union Jack incorporated into its design. When the new Maple Leaf flag was proclaimed as Canada's national flag, the Royal Union Flag was also legally retained as an official flag of Canada, now flown by government agencies on specific dates to show support for the Monarch and membership in the Commonwealth.

Ironically, as separatist sentiment has grown in Quebec, flying the Canadian flag has declined there in favour of the Flag of Quebec. Former Quebec Premier and hardline separatist Bernard Landry stirred controversy in 2001 by calling the Canadian Flag a "red rag".^* However, most Canadians have come to embrace the Canadian Flag as neither British nor French, but distinctively Canadian, though some Canadian individuals continue to fly the Red Ensign and/or Union Jack.

Great Flag Debate

In 1963, the minority Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson gained power, and decided to adopt an official Canadian flag, by act of Parliament. The idea of an official national flag had been discussed for decades in the 20th century, particularly during the Liberal governments of Mackenzie King; indeed, during the Second World War there was for a time an effort to create a national flag for Canadian troops to carry into battle, but in Pearson's words, "It was a ridiculous design by some heraldic expert in National Defence, with all sorts of symbols on it." But it was not until the 1960s that the debate intensified, and became a subject of considerable controversy culminating in the Great Flag Debate of 1964. The principal political proponent of the change was Prime Minister Lester Pearson, who had been a significant broker during the Suez Crisis of 1956 (for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize), when the Egyptian government objected to Canadian peacekeeping forces on the grounds that they carried the flag of the United Kingdom, a belligerent. According to Mike: The Memoirs of the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson, Pearson's principal concern was for the Canadian flag to be distinctive, not in particular for its introduction to indicate a further break with the United Kingdom. The main opponent was the leader of the opposition and former prime minister, John Diefenbaker, who made it his personal crusade.

Notwithstanding Pearson's caveat as to his (and before him, Mackenzie King's) rationale in pushing for a new flag, the Red Ensign had been unpopular in Quebec, a Liberal base of support. The Red Ensign was especially strongly favoured by rural English Canada, the heart of Tory support. Diefenbaker demanded a referendum be held on the flag issue, but Pearson instead formed a multi-party parliamentary committee to select a new design. Through a period of study with some political manoeuvring, the committee chose the current design, which was created by George F.G. Stanley, inspired by the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada, in Kingston, Ontario. Mooted designs included prototypes with blue rather than red bars and with three maple leaves as on the national coat of arms. The ultimately favoured design with red bars and a single maple leaf was adopted unanimously by the committee on October 29, 1964. The new flag was adopted by the House of Commons on December 15, 1964. The Senate added its approval two days later.

Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed the new flag on January 28, 1965. ^*. It was inaugurated on February 15, 1965, at an official ceremony held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in the presence of Governor General Major-General Georges P. Vanier, the prime minister, the members of the Cabinet, and Canadian parliamentarians. Since 1996, February 15 has been commemorated as National Flag of Canada Day.

Despite the preceding acrimony, the new flag was quickly embraced by the Canadian public, and internationally the flag quickly became a welcome and easily recognizable marker of Canada worldwide.

Royal Union Flag

The Royal Union Flag, called the Union Jack (or Union Flag) in the UK, was used as a de jure flag until the adoption of the current flag in 1965. It remains an official Canadian flag, being flown on certain specific occasions.

Currently, regulations ask that federal installations fly the Union Flag beside the Maple Leaf where physical arrangements exist (i.e., a second flagpole) on the following days: Commonwealth Day (the second Monday in March), Victoria Day (which is also the Sovereign's official birthday in Canada), and the anniversary of the Statute of Westminster (December 11). The Union Flag can also be flown at the National War Memorial or at other locations during ceremonies that honour Canadian involvement with forces of other Commonwealth nations during times of war. The Union Flag is always preceded by the Canadian flag, the latter occupying the place of honour.

The Union Flag is also part of the provincial flags of Ontario and Manitoba, forming the canton, and a modified version is used on the flag of British Columbia. The flag of Newfoundland and Labrador is a stylised version of the Union Jack's design.

Several of the provincial lieutenant-governors formerly used a modified Union Flag as their personal standard, but the Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia is the only one who retains this design.

The Union Flag and Canadian Red Ensign are still sometimes flown in Canada by veterans' groups and others who continue to stress the importance of Canada's British heritage and the Commonwealth connection.

Symbolism

The white centre is a device unique to Canada, blazoned a Canadian pale (in heraldry, a pale is a vertical stripe), being a unique pale 1/2 the width of the field rather than 1/3 . The flag is blazoned Gules, on a Canadian pale argent a maple leaf of the first.

In 1921, King George V proclaimed the official colours of Canada as red, from the Saint George's Cross, and white, from the French royal emblem since King Charles VII.

As early as 1700, the maple leaf began to serve as a symbol celebrating Canada's nature and environment. The maple leaf on the flag is a sugar maple leaf. Sugar maples are native to Canada and have brilliant fall foliage. The number of points on the leaf has no significance; they do not, for instance, represent the ten provinces plus the federal government. In fact, some of the very first Canadian flags made had maple leaves of 15 points: the lower single points were tripled like the top three.

By a figure-ground reversal of the white square and the maple leaf, the two upper corners of the square can be seen as silhouettes of two angry faces arguing. This has often been considered evocative of the nature of Canadian federalism, but was wholly unintentional.

In Canadian Culture, various patriotic comic book Canadian superheroes use the Maple Leaf Flag as the basis for their costumes, much as Captain America's costume is based on the Stars and Stripes flag. Hence, these characters' costumes are typically red and white with a red maple leaf as their symbol. Canadian superheroes who use this visual motif include:

Captain Canuck
Guardian and his successor, the Vindicator
Northguard

Technical description

The ratio of the Canadian flag is 1:2, meaning the length of the flag is twice the width of the flag. The white field is a perfect square, and each red field is exactly half its size.

The Department of Canadian Heritage has listed the various colour shades that should be used when reproducing the Canadian flag, these include:

Printing ink
- FIP red: General Printing Ink, No. 0-712;
- Inmont Canada Ltd., No. 4T51577;
- Monarch Inks, No. 62539/0
- Rieger Inks, No. 25564
- Sinclair and Valentine, No. RL163929/0.

The following colours 0/100/100/0 in the CMYK process or PMS032 (flag red 100%) or PMS485 (used for screens) in the Pantone colour specifier can be used when reproducing the flag. In the Pantone Matching System, the colour used (not officially) is 186c.

Government promotion

Ever since the adoption of the Canadian flag in 1965, there have been programs sponsored by the Canadian government to promote the flag to their citizens and to the world at large. Two of the most famous examples is the Heritage Department's Parliamentary Flag Program and the flag program run by the Department of Public Works. The flag has also been featured on several definitive stamp series issued by Canada Post since 1989. This increased exposure of the Canadian flag and the flag as part of the Canadian identity at home and abroad through the circulation of postage stamps.

Parliamentary Flag Program

To increase awareness of the new flag, the Parliamentary Flag Program was set up in December 1972 by the Cabinet. The purpose of this program was to allow members of the Canadian House of Commons to distribute flags and lapel pins in the shape of the Canadian flag to their constituents. The program has been in operation since 1973.

References

External links

National flags | Canadian culture | Flags of Canada

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