HISTORY THROUGH OUR EYES

Jan. 21, 1948: Duplessis announces new Quebec flag

On Jan. 21, 1948, independent MNA René Chaloult, who had strongly advocated that Quebec adopt its own flag, was to address the National Assembly on that subject. But his speech was pre-empted by Premier Maurice Duplessis, who rose to announce that the cabinet earlier that day had passed an order in council making the Fleur-de-lis the official emblem of Quebec.

“‘It is floating now over the main tower,’ added the premier, while the crowded galleries, attracted by the prospect of hearing Mr. Chaloult at his best on such a topic, broke into applause,” the Gazette reported the following day.

In fact, the flag that flew in Quebec City that day was not the one seen with Duplessis in this 1954 photo, as he unveils a commemorative plaque at the naming of the Monsignor Langlois Bridge in Valleyfield. It was an earlier version that showed gilt fleurs de lis all pointing inward to the intersection of the arms of the cross. The final version, with white fleurs de lis pointing upward, apparently had not yet been available.

In the same edition, we reported that in Ottawa, an effort a couple of years previously to come up with a “distinctive Canadian flag” had been shelved amid disagreements. “Since then, the issue has been let lie and there is no indication that it will be revived within the near future,” we reported. Indeed, it was only in 1965 that Canada got its own modern flag — and not without considerable controversy.