COLUMN: Viewpoint – Pride in our flag unites us

My cousins recently posted a social media photo of the huge new Canadian flag they’ve put up on their Saskatchewan farmyard. My nine-year-old grandson in Saskatoon has made a sign for the front window of his family’s home. It includes a flag and the slogan “I Love Canada.” My brother has a flag ready to proudly fly at his lakeside Manitoba cottage this summer.

My husband has added a hat with a Canadian flag logo to his large sport cap collection. My Manitoba grandchildren were at the family orientated Rally for Canada celebration hosted by premier Wab Kinew on April 5. In their parents’ photos of the event I can see the gigantic Canadian flag decorating the province’s legislative building. In my family, as well as many others, the Canadian flag is clearly ‘having a moment.’

Here in Winnipeg I saw a huge St. Boniface apartment block rising above the skyline with Canadian flags displayed on almost every balcony. It was quite a sight! Flying Colours, a Toronto business, reports sales of Canadian flags have gone up 50 percent since Donald Trump started his trade war and talked about annexing Canada as the 51st state.

The public’s attitude towards our country’s flag has been quite mercurial over time. I can clearly remember when Canada got its new flag with the maple leaf in 1965. I was a Grade 8 student at Central School in Steinbach located where the current Cultural Arts Centre stands. Our regular classes were suspended as our teachers turned the radio dial to the CBC broadcast of the Feb. 15 celebrations on Parliament Hill. The country’s new flag with a maple leaf in the centre was formally being flown in Ottawa for the first time. School children across the country listened in on the ceremony. My English teacher Miss Helen Loewen had us write a story about the event.

The new flag did not come into being without a great deal of debate. Lester Pearson, the Liberal Prime Minister wanted a flag that reflected Canada’s independence from the British Empire while Mr. Diefenbaker, the leader of the Conservatives, opposed the new design. He claimed the old flag which featured the Union Jack and paid tribute to Canada’s British founders was just fine. A recent exhibit about the history of the Free Press newspaper at the Winnipeg Art Gallery included a clever political cartoon from the 1960s showing Mr. Diefenbaker and Mr. Pearson arguing about the flag.

In 2005 some Indigenous people said the Canadian flag was linked to historic injustices and was part of the legacy of Canada’s colonialism. They saw the flag as a symbol of oppression rather than national unity. Artist Curtis Wilson designed an Indigenous version of the flag featuring a killer whale within the maple leaf and salmon designs on the side red bands.

In January and February of 2022 when the Freedom Convoy was carrying out its nation-wide campaign against COVID mandates and restrictions, there was a heated controversy about the protestors use of the flag. Many Canadians believed the flag was being politicized in an inappropriate way and its image tarnished by the illegal activities of some convoy members.

Currently however our nation’s flag is enjoying great popularity. On Feb. 15 of this year, which was Flag Day in Canada, five of Canada’s former Prime Ministers, both Liberal and Conservative, signed a joint letter urging Canadians to fly the maple leaf as they never have before.