History of the Canadian Flag

St. George's Cross

I am probably safe in assuming that 99.9% of Canadians know that our neighbour to the south celebrates its Independence Day on July 4th. But sadly most Americans are unaware that Canada also celebrates its national day in the same month-July 1st to be precise.

Like Americans, Canadians are proud of their flag. But the distinctive Maple Leaf Flag wasn't always our flag. Here's a brief history.

The first flag known to have flown in Canada was the St George's Cross carried by the explorer, John Cabot when he reached Newfoundland in 1497.

In 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross in Gaspé bearing the French royal coat of arms with the fleurs-de-lis. His ship flew a red flag with a white cross, the national flag of France at the time.

The Royal Union Flag has been used in Canada since the 1621 British settlement in Nova Scotia. Since the surrender of New France to the United Kingdom in the early 1760s, the Royal Union Flag, called the Union Jack, was used as the national flag, as in the United Kingdom, until the adoption of the current flag in 1965.

Union Jack

Shortly after Canadian Confederation in 1867, the need for distinctive Canadian flags emerged. The first Canadian flag was that then used as the Flag of the Governor General of Canada, a Royal Union Flag with a shield in the centre bearing the quartered arms of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick surrounded by a wreath of maple leaves. In 1870 the Red Ensign, with the addition of the Canadian composite shield in the fly, began to be used unofficially on land and sea and was known as the Canadian Red Ensign.

Canadian Red Ensign

As new provinces joined the Confederation, their arms were added to the shield. In 1892, the British admiralty approved the use of the Red Ensign for Canadian use at sea. The composite shield was replaced with the coat of arms of Canada upon its grant in 1921 and, in 1924, an Order in Council approved its use for Canadian government buildings abroad.

In 1925, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King (the PM on our $50 bill)  established a committee to design a flag to be used at home, but it was dissolved before the final report could be delivered. Despite the failure of the committee to solve the issue, public sentiment in the 1920s was in favour of fixing the flag problem for Canada.

During the Second World War, the Red Ensign was the national flag Canadian troops carried into battle. A joint committee of the Senate and House of Commons was appointed on November 8, 1945, to recommend a national flag to officially adopt. By May 9 the following year, 2,695 designs were submitted and the committee reported back with a recommendation "that the national flag of Canada should be the Canadian red ensign with a maple leaf in autumn golden colours in a bordered background of white". The Legislative Assembly of Quebec, however, had urged the committee to not include any of what it deemed as "foreign symbols", including the Royal Union Flag, and Mackenzie King, then still prime minister, declined to act on the report, leaving the order to fly the Canadian Red Ensign in place.

Suggested 1945 flag

By the 1960s, however, debate for an official Canadian flag intensified and became a subject of controversy, culminating in the Great Flag Debate of 1964. In 1963, the minority Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson gained power and decided to adopt an official Canadian flag through parliamentary debate. 

Lester B. Pearson

The principal political proponent of the change was Prime Minister Lester Pearson. (Yes, Toronto Airport is named in his honour).

He had been a significant broker during the Suez Crisis of 1956, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. During the crisis, Pearson was disturbed when the Egyptian government objected to Canadian peacekeeping forces on the grounds that the Canadian flag (the Red Ensign) contained the same symbol (the Royal Union Flag) also used as a flag by the United Kingdom, one of the belligerents.

Pearson's goal was for the Canadian flag to be distinctive and unmistakably Canadian. The main opponent to changing the flag was the leader of the opposition and former prime minister, John Diefenbaker, who eventually made the subject a personal crusade.

Diefenbaker

Pearson was leader of a minority government and risked losing power over the issue; however, he knew the Red Ensign with the Union Jack was unpopular in Quebec, a base of support for his Liberal Party, but the Red Ensign was strongly favoured by English Canada. On May 27, 1964, Pearson's minority government introduced a motion to parliament for adoption of his favourite design of a "sea to sea" (Canada's motto) flag with blue borders and three conjoined red maple leaves on a white field. This motion led to weeks of acrimonious debate in the House of Commons and the design came to be known as the "Pearson Pennant". 

"Pearson Pennant)

Diefenbaker demanded a referendum be held on the flag issue, but Pearson instead formed a 15-member multi-party parliamentary committee to select a new design.

Through a period of study with political manoeuvring, the committee chose the current design, which was created by George F.G. Stanley and inspired by the flag of the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. The design was approved unanimously by the committee on October 29, 1964, and later passed by a majority vote in the House of Commons on December 15, 1964. The Senate added its approval two days later.

Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, proclaimed the new flag on January 28, 1965. It was inaugurated on February 15 of the same year 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. The Canadian Red Ensign was lowered at the stroke of noon, and the new Maple Leaf flag was raised. The crowd sang "O Canada" followed by "God Save the Queen". Maurice Bourget, Speaker of the Senate, said, "The flag is the symbol of the nation's unity, for it, beyond any doubt, represents all the citizens of Canada without distinction of race, language, belief, or opinion."

Happy Birthday to both our great nations!

Leave a comment to qualify for a FREE digital copy of any one of my books (your choice). Please be sure to leave your email.

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

It's an honor to have been nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award, especially since the nomination came from author Rose Anderson. Her blog, Calliope's Writing Tablet is always full of inspiring articles.
I am obliged as part of the award to share 7 things about myself. My list will pale in comparison to Rose's, which includes white water rafting, walking on fire, and being a Master Level Reiki practitioner!

• I'm a cat lover. My mother will be turning over in her grave to hear that, but I've always had a place in my heart for cats. At one time I had four! I recently lost my most beloved cat, Topaz. I was in the midst of writing Haunted Knights and had added a black cat to the story. Topaz was a tortie, so I changed the book and renamed the cat Topaz. I even dedicated the book in her memory. It's hard to lose a pet you've had for 12 years.
• I am an amateur genealogist, a hobby that has had a huge influence on my writing. When I could not trace my own ancestry back to the Norman Conquest (the impossible dream), I made up a family and have followed their lives and love stories in my books.
• Before I retired (!) I was a teacher. I loved teaching, loved communicating ideas and concepts. I consider myself fortunate to have been born at a time when a good education was becoming available for all. It pains me when I encounter students who don't appreciate the opportunities schooling can give them.
• I spend quite a bit of my time now in Panama. My husband and I built a condo building in Las Lajas, a small community that boasts the best undiscovered beach in Panama. Walking the beach with nothing to look at but the ocean, the sand, the palm trees, and the millions of tiny red crabs, has often unlocked blocks in my writing. I invariably return from the beach with a new idea for the next part of a book. I harbor a secret dream to have other authors join me here for some kind of retreat, taking inspiration from the sea.
• I have spent most of my life in Canada, though I was born and educated in England. I suppose that's why I feel comfortable setting my books in the UK countries. I've never had the desire to write about Canada. Of course, I write medieval, though I have a contemporary novel set in Panama in the back of my mind.
• I am terrified of water. I didn't learn to swim until I was 23, though anybody watching me would not call it swimming. I only "swim" in water where I know my feet can touch bottom!
• I love wine. My basic criteria is that it be red.

Now, it's my turn to nominate blogs I have found inspirational.
Mimi Barbour's blog, Believe is a beautifully designed blog always worth a visit.
Jo-Ann Carson's blog Lovin' Danger and the Unexpected is my second choice.
Hope you'll check them out.
Now I'm off for a stroll along the beach.