Flag History
History of the Canadian Flag Poster
Introduction
This document provides an overview of the various steps that led to the adoption of the Canadian flag. The first part explains the positions of the two central characters, Lester B. Pearson and John G. Diefenbaker. The second part is a collection of excerpts from authors who experienced firsthand the events of this period of Canada’s history.
Initial Steps
The Pearson Pennant
The Flag Debate
The Special Committee Report and the Free Vote
Official Recognition of the New Flag
A Last Minute Request
What People had to Say about Adopting a Canadian Flag
Bibliography
Key steps that led to the adoption of the Canadian flag
From 1867 to 1965, Canada was represented by various versions of the Red Ensign. The flag had a red background and featured a Union Jack and Canadian coats of arms. Over the years, the coats of arms that appeared on the flag changed, both as new provinces were added and when Canada gained independence in 1931.
The search for a new Canadian flag began in 1925. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King asked a committee to research possible designs. Members of Parliament debated for a year without coming to an agreement about whether or not symbols of allegiance to the British crown should be kept.
Mackenzie King made another attempt to address this matter in 1946, when another committee proposed a red flag with the Union Jack and a maple leaf. Members of Parliament were sharply divided over the proposed design. Veterans wanted to keep the Red Ensign, while Canadian nationalists wanted the country to have a flag with a distinctly Canadian identity. At the end of the Second World War, Prime Minister Mackenzie King issued an Order in Council that authorized the flying of the Red Ensign from public buildings.
In 1960, adopting a flag returned to the forefront. It was part of the Liberal Party of Canada’s platform in 1962:
Adopt a distinctively Canadian flag and anthem: Within two years of taking office, a new Liberal government will submit to Parliament a design for a flag which cannot be mistaken for the emblem of any other country. When adopted, this will be the flag of Canada.
In his memoirs, Lester B. Pearson shared his belief that adopting national symbols in Canada would strengthen national unity:
For me, the flag was part of a deliberate design to strengthen national unity, to improve federal-provincial relations, to devise a more appropriate constitution, and to guard against the wrong kind of American penetration. It was our purpose to develop national symbols which would give us pride and confidence and belief in Canada. The flag was a specific promise of our election campaign, specific even in terms of a time limit. We had pledged that within two years of forming a government we would submit to Parliament a proposal for a distinctive Canadian flag. I was heavily committed to this, both politically and personally, as to any promise made.
Prime Minister Pearson presented his proposal to the caucus in early 1964. There was no opposition, although some MPs were skeptical of the relevance of going forward with this controversial initiative. Mitchell Sharp, then-Minister of Trade, explained his reluctance:
I frankly admit that it took me some time to become enthusiastic about the idea. Not that I was opposed; I simply looked on a Canadian flag as something that was bound to be highly controversial, and there was already enough controversy. I thought the flag could wait. Gradually, however, I became persuaded of the importance of the issue, and, when the debate took place, on the resolution in the House of Commons to approve the design.
John Pickersgill, then-Minister of Transport, was concerned about Newfoundland Premier Joey Smallwood’s reaction. Like Smallwood, Pickersgill wanted the Union Jack to remain a symbol of Canada. Furthermore, Pickersgill was concerned that this initiative would lead to the Liberal government’s defeat:
We feared the flag proposal might defeat the minority government. I was worried about the reaction in Newfoundland and strongly supported Pearson’s proposal that whenever Parliament was asked to approve a new flag, the Union Jack should be recognized officially as the symbol of Canada’s place in the Commonwealth.
The Pearson Pennant
On 17 May 1964, Lester B. Pearson officially presented his flag proposal before an audience of Royal Canadian Legion members in Winnipeg. Some veterans, who had fought under the Red Ensign in the two world wars, booed and heckled Pearson. On 28 May 1964, the government introduced in the House of Commons a resolution for Canada to adopt a national flag. It also stated that the Union Jack could still be flown:
That the Government be authorized to take such steps as may be necessary to establish officially as the flag of Canada a flag embodying the emblem proclaimed by His Majesty King George V on November 21, 1921 — three maple leafs conjoined on one stem — in the colours red and white then designated for Canada, the red leaves occupying a field of white between vertical sections of blue on the edges of the flag and also to provide that the Royal Union Flag, generally known as the Union Jack, may continue to be flown as a symbol of Canadian membership in the Commonwealth of Nations and of our allegiance to the Crown. — The Prime Minister.
The flag described in the resolution was Pearson’s first choice. This design is commonly referred to as the Pearson Pennant (Figure 1).
Figure 1: The Pearson Pennant
Source: CBC Radio, The Great Canadian Flag Debate, 9 February 2012.
The two blue bars represented the two oceans on either side of Canada. It fulfilled Pearson’s objective, which was for the flag to strengthen national unity:
I knew pretty well what design I favoured myself, and even got the Post Office to put out something similar in the guise of a stamp. My first and favourite design proposed light blue bars top and bottom with a red maple leaf on a white background. But this, apparently, had no heraldic significance or any other kind of national significance, and was not acceptable to the experts.
The Leader of the Opposition, John Diefenbaker, was opposed to adopting a new flag altogether. He believed Canada already had its own flag in the Red Ensign:
Canada had a flag. It flew over the Headquarters of the Canadian Corps in France in 1918. A meeting of the Mackenzie King Cabinet on 27 October 1943 decided that our army should fly the Canadian red ensign wherever Canadian forces were serving with the forces of other nations. It was officially recognized as Canada’s flag by Order-in-Council in 1945.
Diefenbaker also opposed Pearson’s method. He criticized the Prime Minister for not having consulted the opposition parties more. He further believed that Canada “should be symbolized by a flag containing both the Union Jack and the fleur de lis.”
The Flag Debate
The flag debate in the House of Commons began on 15 June 1964 and continued until 3 July. It then resumed in August and continued until 10 September. Discussions were hostile and bitter. Jean Chrétien, newly elected to the House of Commons, characterized the atmosphere as follows:
There was some fanaticism among the Tories; frankly, their opposition to the adoption of a Canadian flag was purely an emotional response. I will never forget the disgraceful scenes that marked the debate in the House of Commons. All to protest a decision that all Canadians are so of proud today. Maybe these were the growing pains of a nation coming of age. [Translation]
The flag debate brought to light the deep divide within the Conservative caucus. Behind the scenes, the eight Conservative MPs from Quebec preferred a flag with no allusion to either the Red Ensign or the fleur de lis. Léon Balcer, who had served in various ministerial positions under the John G. Diefenbaker governments between 1957 and 1962, described the tensions between anglophone and francophone Conservative MPs at that time:
In each caucus meeting, we, the Members of Parliament from Quebec, called for the recognition of the rights of both francophones and anglophones to be part of a modern Canada that would be free from under the thumb of another country, whichever country that may be. […] After being at each other’s throats in our internal meetings, we had to act as though nothing was wrong and take our seats on our shared bench in the House, where we then gave contradictory speeches. For the months that the flag debate dragged on, we did not exchange a single word in the House. [Translation]
In his memoirs, Diefenbaker did not hold back in criticizing the eight Conservative MPs from Quebec. He accused them of refusing to reach a compromise on the flag due to electoral considerations:
Our eight colleagues from Quebec, however, under Balcer’s leadership refused any accommodation with the rest of caucus. Any flag containing the Union Jack was anathema to them. We could find no common ground. The fleur de lis was of no importance whatsoever in Quebec, they claimed. They argued that the consequence of the Conservative position would be that all Conservative candidates would be wiped out in Quebec in the next election.
The parliamentary debate on designing a new flag had reached a stalemate in early September 1964. Lester B. Pearson would not give ground. He was determined to see the Parliament of Canada endorse a new national emblem:
I was determined. I did not care what happened. I was going to see it through and a flag was going to be endorsed by Parliament.
The Special Committee Report and the Free Vote
Pearson and Diefenbaker agreed that a Special Committee on a Canadian Flag should be established. Its members included 15 Members of Parliament from various parties: seven Liberal MPs, five Conservative MPs, one Ralliement des créditistes MP, one New Democratic Party MP, and one Social Credit MP. The Committee considered and rejected thousands of sketches submitted by the general public, keeping only three. On 29 October 1964, after 45 meetings, the Committee tabled a report recommending the adoption of a flag with a stylized red maple leaf on a white square with red borders, without any reference to the Red Ensign or the fleur de lis. This design had been proposed by Dr. George Stanley, Dean of Arts at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. It is important to note that Dr. Stanley was a good friend of Liberal MP John Matheson, who was on the Special Committee on a Canadian Flag. In his book about the flag, published in 1986, Matheson described a decisive meeting he had with Stanley, which had occurred one year earlier, in 1963:
I particularly recall standing beside George Stanley and looking up at the Royal Military College flag flapping furiously from the Mackenzie Building, one of the college’s buildings in Kingston. This flag had three vertical pales, red-white-red, with the college crest (a mailed fist holding three maple leaves) on the white centre pale. We had just emerged from the college mess and Dr. Stanley remarked “There, John, is your flag.”
After the Special Committee on a Canadian Flag had tabled its report, debate continued in the House of Commons. No consensus could be reached. On 11 December 1964, Conservative MP Léon Balcer asked the government to move a motion for closure to curtail the debate. At 2:15 a.m. on 15 December 1964, a free vote was held on whether to adopt the one-leafed red-and-white flag. The design proposed by the Special Committee on a Canadian Flag was accepted by a vote of 163 to 78. The Liberal MPs began singing the national anthem, O Canada, in the House of Commons chamber. The distribution of votes broken down by party is given below:
For
Liberal Party: 125
Progressive Conservative Party: 6
Social Credit Party: 19
New Democratic Party: 13
Against
Liberal Party: 1
Progressive Conservative Party: 73
Social Credit Party: 3
New Democratic Party: 1
Official Recognition of the New Flag
The Royal Proclamation was signed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on 28 January 1965. The one-leafed red-and-white flag was raised for the first time on 15 February 1965 on Parliament Hill. Thirty years later, at the commemoration ceremony to mark the 30th anniversary of the Canadian flag, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien reflected on the meaning of that day:
I think something magical happened that cold day thirty years ago when Lester Pearson raised our flag for the first time. Because in no time at all, the flag became a symbol that everyone embraced. It became the symbol not of a government or a party or an elite. But of the people. Quietly, confidently, naturally, the Canadian people took ownership.
Gordon Robertson, then-Clerk of the Privy Council, attended the ceremony as well. He underlined the emotion that overcame John Diefenbaker during the ceremony:
Afterward, outside on Parliament Hill, the red ensign was lowered and the new red and white maple leaf flag was raised. Diefenbaker’s emotion throughout was apparent: there were genuine tears in his eyes and down his cheeks. [T]he tradition associated with the old flag and the old symbols was as important for him as the new symbolism was for Pearson.
The Liberal government had not yet laid the flag issue completely to rest. Gordon Robertson shared in his memoirs an anecdote about the colour of the flag. He had noticed that the colour was inconsistent from place to place:
In May, three months after the raising of the new flag, […] it was encouraging to see how many new maple leaf flags were flying. It was a jolt, however, to see a disconcerting variety of colours – everything from pale orange through a good red to revolting purple.
Pearson asked Gordon Robertson to address the situation as quickly as possible. He asked the Applied Physics Division of the National Research Council of Canada to identify the exact colours of the newly adopted flag. On 1 June 1966, specific standards were adopted by Cabinet for the colours to be used for producing and printing the Canadian flag.
After he withdrew from political life, Lester B. Pearson received a great deal of correspondence about the flag. Some people congratulated him for his boldness in giving Canada its own symbol. Others accused him of being “a traitor to our traditions and background [who] had sold out to Quebec.” In the last volume of his memoirs, Pearson dismissed his critics out of hand. He said he was proud to have been so closely involved in developing this Canadian symbol:
We had a Canadian flag at last. I am very proud to have been associated with it. But I do not feel, and I have never felt, that I was disloyal or disrespectful to the Union Jack and all it stood for when I advocated and helped bring into being the new flag. The time had come to have an emblem distinctively Canadian.
However, Diefenbaker’s wounds remained raw, even 12 years after the Maple Leaf was raised for the first time on the Peace Tower. In his memoirs, published in 1977, he emphasized that Pearson’s initiative was divisive:
Mr. Pearson took Canada another step down the road to disunity by forcing his flag on Parliament. He refused in every way to allow the Canadian people to decide whether they wanted to change their flag, or, if they did, what they would like to have in its stead.
In 1996, 15 February was declared National Flag of Canada Day. This date reminds us of the day in 1965 when the red-and-white flag featuring a maple leaf was first raised on Parliament Hill. To celebrate this special day in Canada’s history, every year a flag from the Peace Tower is given to one or more Canadians who embody our national values.
A Last Minute Request
February 15th, 1965, is a day with great historical significance for Canada. It marks the day when the red and white Maple Leaf became our national flag and was flown from the top of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill for the very first time.
However, for Joan O’Malley, November 6th, 1964, is equally significant, because that is the day her father asked for her help with a last-minute sewing project—one that she will never forget.
A snowstorm had hit the national capital, and 20-year-old Joan O’Malley had just gotten home from work. She was settling in for a quiet evening with her husband, Brian.
However, her father, Ken Donovan, an assistant purchasing director with the Canadian Government Exhibition Commission, contacted her with an urgent request.
He asked her if she could sew prototypes of the three designs being considered for Canada’s new national emblem with her Singer sewing machine by the next morning.
Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson had requested that the three prototypes be delivered to 24 Sussex Drive the next morning so he could see them flown from a flagpole at his secondary residence on Harrington Lake.
Joan O’Malley donated her time to make that happen. Fifty years later, on November 6th, 2014, the Government of Canada paid tribute to Ms. O’Malley, now 70 years old, for her important contribution at a ceremony on Parliament Hill.
A big thank you to Joan O’Malley, a dedicated Canadian who played a key role in the history of our national flag!
What people had to say about adopting a Canadian flag…
When Pearson looked back on his accomplishments after retiring from public life, he frequently said that the introduction of a distinctive Canadian flag was the act that had given him the most pride and satisfaction. Indeed, the new flag became the symbol of the growing pride that Canadians were feeling for their country, which culminated in a patriotic outburst during the country’s centennial year.
Bruce Thordarson, Lester Pearson. Diplomat and Politician, Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1974, p. 164.
Pearson himself is entitled to take personal credit for the agreement on a new Canadian flag, after a long and bitter debate in Parliament. This symbol of the New Canada will be a lasting tribute to his memory.
Walter L. Gordon, A Political Memoir, McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1977, p. 218. (Minister of Finance in the Pearson government).
Adopting a Canadian flag took months of senseless obstruction, filibustering and unfathomably absurd debate. It is hard to believe the record in the Journals, that representatives of the people spouted such nonsense. Some Conservative members from Western Canada were no longer even attempting to hide the anti-French prejudice they were usually so careful to disguise. [Translation]
Gérard Pelletier, Le temps des choix 1960-1968, Les Éditions Stanké, Montréal, 1986, p. 190. (Liberal MP in 1965).
All French Canadians were filled with a hope that the rest of Canada could no longer ignore. It was obvious to everyone that people of goodwill could do nothing but support this shock to the system. Prime Minister Pearson decided to channel this enthusiasm by taking a step that the vast majority of French Canadians had been calling for for years: establishing a Canadian flag without any symbols representing our country’s colonial past. [Translation]
Léon Balcer, Léon Balcer raconte, Septentrion, Québec, 1988, p. 130. (Conservative MP in 1965).
It is a tribute to Pearson’s good judgment that, in retrospect, the approval of the Canadian flag stands out as one of the great accomplishments of his time in office. We became more of a nation, more unified, and more conscious of our separate identity the day the new flag in the two official Canadian colours, red and white, with a maple leaf in the centre, was hoisted on Parliament Hill.
Mitchell Sharp, Which Reminds Me… A Memoir, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1994, p. 125. (Minister of Trade in the Pearson government).
Perhaps it was symbolic of the Pearson years that the greatest animosity between the parties was caused by the attempt of the Liberals to force through Parliament a resolution adopting a new flag. Canada already had a flag under which the country had fought and which was loved not only by the veterans of two world wars, but by millions of ordinary Canadians. To some, however, it was not accepted because it was a colonial inheritance and over-represented the British side of our heritage.
David J. Walker, Fun Along the Way. Memoirs of Dave Walkers, Robertson Press, Toronto, 1989, p. 216. (Minister of Public Works in the Diefenbaker government).
Both the flag and the Order of Canada had obvious places in the effort to give Canadians common symbols of a national unity that were not related to any one of our ethnic, linguistic, or regional differences. They were things that, in the long term, would bind – not divide.
Gordon Robertson, Memoirs of a Very Civil Servant. Mackenzie King to Pierre Trudeau, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2000, p. 246.
Bibliography
Archbold, Rick, I Stand for Canada. The Story of the Maple Leaf Flag, Macfarlane Walter & Ross, Toronto, 2002, 185 p.
Balcer, Léon, Léon Balcer raconte, Septentrion, Québec, 1988, 150 p.
Chrétien, Jean, Dans la fosse aux lions, Les Éditions de l’Homme, Montréal, 1994, 241 p.
Diefenbaker, John G., One Canada, Memoirs of the Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker. The Tumultuous Years 1962-1967, Macmillan of Canada, Toronto, 309 p.
Gordon, Walter L., A Political Memoir, McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1977, 395 p.
Matheson, John R., Canada’s Flag, A Search for a Country, Mika Publishing Company, Belleville, 1986, 275 p.
National Liberal Federation, The Liberal Programme. General Election – 1962, Ottawa, 1962, 35 p.
Pearson, Lester B., Mike. The Memoirs of the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson. Volume 3 1957-1968, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1975, 338 p.
Pelletier, Gérard, Le temps des choix 1960-1968, Les Éditions Stanké, Montréal, 1986, 384 p.
Pickersgill, John, Seeing Canada Whole. A Memoir, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Markham, 1994, 858 p.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, Discours prononcé à la cérémonie du 30e anniversaire du drapeau canadien, Ottawa, 15 February 1995.
Robertson, Gordon, Memoirs of a Very Civil Servant. Mackenzie King to Pierre Trudeau, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2000, 407 p.
Sharp, Mitchell, Which Reminds Me… A Memoir, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1994, 288 p.
Thordarson, Bruce, Lester Pearson. Diplomat and Politician, Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1974, 245 p.
Walker, David J., Fun Along the Way. Memoirs of Dave Walkers, Robertson Press, Toronto, 1989, 245 p.
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