By Henry Srebrnik, [Charlottetown, PEI] Guardian
Canada Day is almost here, and the Maple Leaf
will soon be
fluttering everywhere.
Nations are essentially “tribes with flags,”
as the Egyptian
diplomat Tahseen Bashir once remarked. Flags unite people but
can also divide
them, and even become emblems of racial and ethnic bigotry.
Since 1965, the flag has come to symbolize
the “new,”
non-ethnic, Canada, bereft of old colonial symbols. This did not
happen without
a great deal of struggle.
The old Canadian Red Ensign, with its Union
Jack in the
corner and a coat of arms on a red background, was, prior to
that date, in
effect the de facto Canadian flag.
It was described by Governor General Lord
Stanley in 1891 as
“the Flag which has come to be considered as the recognized Flag
of the
Dominion both afloat and ashore.”
Following the authorization of a distinctive
Canadian coat
of arms in 1921, that became part of the Red Ensign. However,
the flag often
flew alongside the British Union Jack, in a period when Canada
still considered
itself a part of the British Empire.
With the growth of Canadian nationalism in
the 1960s, many
saw the flag as a symbol of the past. During the federal
election campaign of
1963, Liberal Party leader Lester Pearson promised to introduce
a distinctive
national flag for Canada.
Canada needed a flag that would be relevant
to all
Canadians, not just those of British descent, he insisted. As
Pearson recalled
in his memoirs, “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.”
Contentious arguments would rage for more
than six months,
cause acrimony in the House of Commons. It would unleash an
emotional debate
among Canadians everywhere, and, in the end, do little to unite
the country.
The debate in the House of Commons was
finally ended by
closure and on Dec. 17, 1964, Canada’s new flag was declared
official by a vote
of 163 to 78.
Most Progressive Conservatives, including
former Prime Minister
John Diefenbaker, were opposed. Historian Marcel Trudel warned
in 1964 that
Canada’s new flag had “no historic significance” and was a
lamentable failure.
“I am convinced, for my part,” he stated,
“that any flag, if
it is to be truly significant, must contain or represent the
symbols of the
nation or nations which contributed to establishing the
country.”
C.P. Champion, author of The
Strange Demise
of British Canada: The Liberals and Canadian Nationalism,
1964-68, agrees.
“Unlike Canada’s original flag --the Canadian
Red Ensign -- the
maple leaf tells no story of our country. The Red Ensign, by
comparison,
vividly embodies Canada’s rich history, inclusive of First
Nations, the
fleur-de-lis, and the diversity represented by Scottish, English
and Irish
symbols.”
The Red Ensign largely disappeared from
public view. I
remember bicycling past a school in Montreal in 1965 and seeing
a pile of Red
Ensigns that had been used in its schoolrooms stacked in the
schoolyard, ready
to be thrown away. I took one home with me but it has since
disappeared in one
of my many moves.
But the Red Ensign has recently taken on a
darker symbolism,
adopted as Canada’s equivalent of the Confederate battle flag by
some
extremists, who see it as a throwback to a time when Canadians
were
overwhelmingly white and of European extraction.
Caitlin Bailey, executive director of the
Canadian Centre
for the Great War, in Montreal, said the Red Ensign was a symbol
of unity as a
young nation went to war. It was the flag that flew over Vimy
Ridge to signal
its 1917 capture by Canadian troops.
“It’s unfortunate that it has turned into a
white
nationalist symbol,” she said. “It’s not right, and it flies in
the face of
what the Red Ensign means.”
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