The Story of Canada's Flag
Following the union of the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario in 1867, the Union Flag of Great Britain remained, as it had been prior to Confederation, the official flag of Canada. Although a self-governing colony, Canada was still a colony, not a nation. Its flag, of necessity, was that of the British imperial authority.
But the very idea of Confederation had stirred the imagination of many Canadians. They began to feel a vague sense of pride in themselves. There had been talk of a "new nationality" during the Confederation debates in Canada, and men began to look for some tangible expression of this new nationality. The Union Flag was a British flag. It was not truly representative of the Canadian spirit. Instead of the Union Flag many English Canadians began to look upon the British red ensign with the Canadian Coat of Arms in the fly as the flag of Canada. Canada did not have a distinctive Coat of Arms of its own (that was not to come until 1921); the Canadian Arms were simply a quartering of those of the four original partners of Confederation, Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
There was no official sanction for the use of this ensign bearing the several provincial Arms on it. Nevertheless Sir John A. Macdonald, the first Canadian prime minister, constantly made use of it. In 1874 he asked London for formal British approval for Canadian merchant vessels to fly the Canadian version of the red ensign. His request was passed to the British Admiralty which did not offer any immediate objection. However, a year later, the Canadian request was rejected. Not until 1889 did the Admiralty relent. But mere tolerance was less than the Canadians desired. In defiance of the absence of any formal authority for his action, Macdonald had hoisted the Canadian red ensign over the parliament buildings in Ottawa. Macdonald's successor as Prime Minister, Sir Charles Tupper, followed his former chief's policy and requested the British government give its formal blessing to the use of the red ensign. The Governor-General of Canada, Lord Stanley, wrote in support of Tupper's request:
Though no actual order has ever been issued the Dominion government has encouraged, by precept and example, the use on all public buildings throughout the provinces, of the red ensign with the Canadian badge in the fly. I submit that the flag
is one which has come to be considered as the recognized flag of the dominion, both ashore and afloat, and on sentimental grounds, I think there is much to be said for its retention.
Finally, on February 2, 1892, the British Admiralty granted permission for Canadian merchant ships to wear the Canadian red ensign. No authority, however, was given for its use elsewhere than at sea.
In spite of the fact that the red ensign was authorized for use only on the Canadian merchant marine, Canadians generally continued to fly it as their flag on land. Various versions of the ensign appeared, none of them having any official sanction. One of the more popular carried a white roundel in the fly, in which were placed the Coats of Arms of all, not merely the four original provinces. Sometimes these arms would be surrounded by a wreath of maple leaves; sometimes they would be surmounted by a beaver; sometimes they would be embellished with a crown and a wreath of roses, thistles and shamrocks. These various ensigns were flown by private individuals on July 1 and on May 24. Every day, however, the Canadian merchant marine ensign waved from the central tower of the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.
But not for long. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, there was a revival of imperialist sentiment throughout the British Empire. The old Queen, Victoria, reached her Diamond jubilee in 1897 and there was much talk of a great imperial federation with its seat in London, England. The South African War stimulated still further the rebirth of imperial feeling on the part of Englishspeaking Canadians, and the red ensign was removed from Canadian public buildings in favour of the Union Flag. On March 17, 1904, Henri Bourassa, member of parliament for Labelle, asked the Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, why "the Canadian flag which used to be put up on the tower of the parliament building has been replaced by a Union Jack." The Prime Minister had not, apparently, noticed the change. He merely replied, "I am sorry to say that I cannot satisfy today the rather fastidious curiosity of my honourable friend." But if Laurier could not answer Bourassa's question, his Minister of Public Works, the Hon. James Sutherland, could and did:
... the flag hitherto flown on the parliament building has been what is known as the Canadian Merchant Marine flag. It is not the national flag in any other sense. The national flag, as we understand it for this purpose, is the Union Jack. Many complaints have reached the department on previous occasions that the flag floating over the parliament buildings was not the authorized flag for that purpose, and when we were buying a new Flag, the one which was bought, in accordance with the custom of Canada, and of all portions of the empire throughout the world, was the one authorized for the purpose.
Bourassa observed, "I know that the red ensign is the Merchant Marine flag, but I know it has always been used in this country as being the special colonial flag to which we have added the escutcheon of confederation. It has always been used on the building."
Beyond that of Bourassa there were apparently few voices raised in defence of the red ensign. Imperialism was the order of the day, and for many English Canadians, F. B. Cumberland's statement before the Empire Club of Toronto in 1906, was an expression of their own views:
This Union Jack then is the flag which is the birthright of each British man; this is the flag which should always fly and be held and be esteemed as our own.
The Hon. William Pugsley went even farther in 1911:
I believe with every member of this House, that the Union Jack will fly over Canada as an integral part of the British Empire, until the end of time.
The flag issue seemed settled permanently when, on April 12, 1911, the Colonial Secretary in London, Lewis Harcourt, informed the Governor-General that there was no question of any authority being given for the use of the red ensign. The Union Flag was the official flag of Canada.
Thus, when war broke out in 1914, the Union Jack, not the red ensign was the flag under which Canadian troops enlisted, under which they fought, in which they were buried, and behind which they marched on their return to the demobilization depots. But if their flag was a British rather than a Canadian flag, the badges they carried on their caps and uniforms were Canadian. There were few battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force which did not carry the maple leaf as the dominant feature of their regimental badges.
| PREVIOUS Chapter | Back to Contents | NEXT Chapter |