Canadian Flag
Originally this episode aired February 14th 2017. Prior name of the Podcast was Tea with Puppets.
In Episode 13, we learn about the story behind the current Canadian Flag, how it came to be, and the stamps that honour it.
Prior to 1965, Canada flew what was known as the Canadian Red Ensign (as seen above). Although it was never officially adopted by the Parliament of Canada, it was in use from many years. Essentially it was a British Red Ensign, featuring a Union Flag in the canton and a shield showing off the Coat of Arms of Canada.
By the 1960s, debate for an official Canadian flag intensified and became a subject of controversy. This led to what has become known as the Great Flag Debate of 1964. It started on June 15, 1964, when Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson proposed his plans for a new flag in the House of Commons with a resolution:“… 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 leaves 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.”
Below was the suggested design by Pearson.
Pearson sought to produce a flag which embodied history and tradition, but also exclude any British-related component from its identity. One of the drivers for this was Pearson’s experience from the Suez Canal crisis of 1956.
The Suez Crisis erupted when Egyptian President Abdul Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal Company — which had been run by the French with the British government as the largest single shareholder. The Canal was an absolutely vital conduit for oil. If Nasser blocked the precious flow, he could cripple the British economy. Now we could go into great detail on this incident, but what’s important to know is that Pearson had been a significant peace broker during the Crisis, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
One of the issues Pearson faced, though, was the Egyptian government objected to Canadian peacekeeping forces being there under the Canadian flag at the time, the Red Ensign, which contained the Union Flag, a symbol of the United Kingdom. This was particularly difficult for Egyptians considering the United Kingdom was one of the belligerents. Therefore, Pearson had a very clear goal for the Canadian flag to be distinctive and unmistakably Canadian.
It was not easy to convince others at first. The idea of changing the flag was very controversial, as you can see in this video of Pearson trying to make the case the Royal Canadian Legionaries
John Diefenbaker, former Prime Monster of Canada, loyal opposition and leader of the Conservative Party made things difficult for him.
As you can imagine, the seemingly endless debate raged on in Parliament with no side giving an inch.
Eventually, the on September 10, 1964, the Prime Minister Pearson yielded to the suggestion that the matter be referred to a special flag committee. Pearson wanted 3 maple leafs bordered by blue. I won’t get into all the details and maneuvers, but essentially, Pearson’s opponents did not want his design to win.
The committee eventually rallied behind a design by George Stanley that is essentially what we know as our flag today. It won unanimous decision when the committee voted, but as any Canadian can tell you a committee recommendation means nothing if not adopted by the Parliament.
So even though within 6 weeks, the committee had decided on a design, it still needed to go to vote in the house of commons. Former Prime Minister Diefenbaker would not absolutely budge, so the debate continued with numerous filibusters.
After some 250 speeches, the debate over the proposed new Canadian flag was ended by closure.
So with closure in place, the final vote occurred to adopt the George Stanley designed flag happened at 2:15 on the morning of December 15, 1964. It was passed by a vote of 163 to 78.
Here was the reaction to this at the time
Queen Elizabeth II approved the Maple Leaf flag by signing a royal proclamation on January 28, 1965. This happened when both Prime Minister Pearson and Leader of the Opposition Diefenbaker were in London attending the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill.
The flag was inaugurated at noon on February 15, 1965, at an official ceremony held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
So now let’s talk about the Flag on stamps. After the depiction of reigning monarchs on Canadian stamps, the Canadian flag could arguably be seen as the second most frequent sight on Canadian stamps. I have counted over at least 60 stamps that have the Canadian Flag on them.
Here are some the highlights:
The first stamp with the new Canadian flag was released on June 30, 1965 the day preceding Canada day. It’s a simple stamp, with the flag being in the central portion of the stamp. It’s flying on a mast in a moderate breeze, against a blue sky. Get more details here.
The following year the Canadian flag made another appearance on a release on June 30th 1966. It was the final stamp in Floral Emblem Series. The Canada Coat of Arms stamp was as Canada Post noted at the time “a logical culmination to a series designed to lead up to the centenary of Canada’s Confederation”. Get more details here.
During Canada’s centenary, Canada Post released another stamp with the Canadian flag. This stamp was issued on January 11th 1967. The stamp depicts the globe where the land mass of Canada is emphasized in bold blue. In a similar blue, is the national Centennial symbol at the lower right; superimposed on the overall design is the red and white national flag. I think this is one of the nicer versions of the Canadian flags on a stamp. More details on the stamp here.
Then there is a long break of very few Canadian stamp issues. It then appeared again in 1989 and once again in definitive coil stamps issued from 1991 to 1995.
In 1990’s there was also the issue on 29 June 1990 and 1 May 1995, celebrating the 25th and 30th anniversaries of the flag respectively.
To me, though, one of the most interesting Canadian Flag stamps, was the stamp issued for the 50th anniversary in 2015. The post office created its first stamp made from fabric with an image depicting a flapping Canadian flag.
Made from rayon, the stamp features a three-dimensional image of the Canadian flag and provides $5 in postage.
Jim Phillips, director of stamp services, said the plan was to create something similar to a patch that a person might wear while travelling in a foreign country. Mr. Phillips and his team had wanted to develop a fabric stamp for a number of years, but waited for the right opportunity.
“The flag for Canada’s first fabric stamp was the perfect subject and the 50th anniversary of the flag was a great time,” Mr. Phillips said from Ottawa. “It just seemed to be a natural for us on this one. You just wouldn’t do a cloth stamp for a series of flower stamps or something like that.”
Stamp designer Kosta Tsetsekas said printing the image of the flag on rayon was a unique technical challenge.
“There’s a reason we normally print on smooth paper — it’s because ink behaves much more predictably on that surface,” says Tsetsekas. “It was interesting to see how metallic inks lost much of their lustre, while some non-metallic ones actually began to look metallic on the fabric.”
There was also just a regular stamp to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the flag issued that same year, but in my eyes this is the version stamp collectors will want to add to their collection. You can read more details about it here.
