Flags of Canada

Canada is home to a wide variety of flags representing different aspects of the country’s geography, history and culture. They remain some of the most important emblems of the nation, easily recognized and much beloved.

Canada’s national flag is the red and white maple leaf flag, seen on the right. It is one of the most recognizable flags in the world, and perhaps the proudest symbol of the Canadian people.

History of the Canadian Flag

During the country’s early history as a British colony, Canada had no flag other than the Union Jack, the proud flag of the British Empire. But the British also needed a way to tell their colonies apart, so in the late 19th century it became popular to make what were known an ensigns for each colony; a red or blue flag with a little Union Jack in the top left corner and some sort of distinguishing crest or symbol in the bottom right. The Canadian one was called the Red Ensign, and featured a red field with the Union Jack and the Canadian coat of arms. After going through some variations, in 1921 a standard Red Ensign started being used as the Canadian national flag.

As Canada grew more politically independent from Britain during the 20th century, however, the Red Ensign became increasingly controversial. Prime Minister Lester Pearson (1897-1972, served 1963-1968), who had worked as an international diplomat, was particularly offended by it, and made one of the priorities of his administration the creation of a new flag free of British symbolism. The suggestion spawned one of the longest parliamentary debates in Canadian history. Older, conservative Canadians said the Red Ensign was the flag that Canadians fought and died under during two world wars, and one that reflected Canada’s historic ties to Britain and current ties to the monarchy. Though these people obviously lost the argument and the Maple Leaf flag was officially proclaimed on July 1, 1965 (today an informal holiday known as National Flag of Canada Day), it’s not too uncommon to meet older or very right-wing Canadians who are still bitter over losing the Ensign.

Interestingly, the Union Jack retains official status as a Canadian flag to this day, though it’s now quite rarely seen. This was Pearson’s compromise with traditionalists; according to law, the Union Jack — known in Canada as the Royal Union Flag — can still be flown once in a while as a “symbol of membership in the Commonwealth and allegiance to the Crown.”

The Maple Leaf Flag

Since 1965, the national flag of Canada has been the Maple Leaf flag, which, as the name suggests, features a large red maple leaf on a white field, with two red bars on either side.

There is no official symbolism to the Maple Leaf flag, beyond the fact that the maple leaf is one of Canada’s best-known national emblems and red and white are Canada’s official colours. The specifics of the design don’t represent or mean anything in particular, and the flag is simply supposed to serve as a unifying symbol of the country.

Most government buildings, schools, and large businesses will fly a Canadian flag on a flagpole outside their entrance, and some Canadian families may hang a smaller flag from a pole near their front door. When someone important to Canada dies, or the country (or the world) experiences a high-profile tragedy, it’s standard etiquette to fly the flag at half-mast, or lower it halfway down the pole.

• Guide to the National Flag of Canada, Government of Canada
• Rules for half-masting the National Flag of Canada, Government of Canada

Provincial Flags

Each province and territory of Canada has its own flag, too. Like the Maple Leaf, most are fairly recent creations, often the result of contests or committees held during the 1960s and 1970s, when many provinces were getting ready to celebrate their centennial anniversaries. Prior to that, some provinces occasionally flew ensign-style flags with their provincial coats of arms in the corner, in the style of the national red ensign mentioned above.

Though diverse in design, the 13 provincial/territorial flags share a number of common traditions. Most are based on their province’s coat of arms in some form or another, and the majority feature some medley of preexisting, government-designated “official symbols.”.

City Flags

With national and provincial flags happily established, in more recent decades many of Canada’s cities and towns began to create flags of their own, too. These tend to vary in quality quite a bit, with the worst bearing obvious signs of being designed by some artistically illiterate municipal committee — which of course they often were. While some Canadian cities fly their municipal flag proudly, most are largely unknown to the general public and exist primarily for the sake of existing.

Other Flags

Canada is truly a country with a flag for every occasion. A good way to measure the importance of someone or something in Canada, in fact, is whether or not they have an official flag of their own.

Some notable examples include:

• Canada’s king, governor general, and provincial lieutenant governors have official flags which are flown at any building they’re visiting at the moment.
• The three branches of the Canadian military (army, navy, and air force) all have flags, and the individual regiments of each branch have their own flags as well.
• Canada’s two recognized ethnic minority groups, aboriginals and French-Canadians, fly a vast array of Francophone flags and aboriginal flags to recognize their different communities.