Maple Leaf turns 50
The 50th anniversary of Canada’s flag offers an opportunity to reflect on our shared history.
“Commemoration is important, and as Canadians we don’t often take time to reflect on our past,” said Terresa DeMong, manager of the Diefenbaker Canada Centre at the University of Saskatchewan.
The centre will host an event Sunday to honour the anniversary. Festivities will include flag sewing, a presentation and “The Great Cake Debate,” where participants can vote with their mouths on cakes depicting our current flag and the red ensign, another design that had a lot of support at the time.
DeMong pointed out the irony in the ceremony taking place at a building named for Diefenbaker, a staunch supporter of the abandoned red ensign.
The centre’s flag corner — a constant display — has been updated for the event, with photos from the time, examples of the three red ensign designs and dozens of examples of suggestions given by Canadians of the era.
“They range from very thoughtful and artistic to some rather humorous and quite ridiculous ones. One of the favourites is one that has the Beatles on the flag.
“Again, it was the ’60s,” DeMong said.
John Courtney, a professor emeritus who teaches political science at the U of S, said the adoption of the flag is a moment worth remembering.
“This was a break from the past, but it’s also an important turning point in Canadian history,” he said.
While the maple leaf design is now iconic worldwide, Courtney noted it was a source of immense controversy at the time.
“It became one of the telling moments of Canadian politics in the 1960s, this debate,” he said.
David Cook stood in front of the Parliament building in Ottawa 50 years ago and watched the maple leaf flag being raised for the very first time.
He was eight years old and was excited to be there. For months, he had been following the Great Flag Debate as people from coast to coast butted heads.
“I could remember the flags that were being proposed,” said Cook, who is now an RCMP inspector based in Regina.
On the back of his bicycle, Cook even had Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson’s choice for the new flag waving proudly. It featured three red maple leaves on a white background, bordered on the sides by two blue bars to symbolize oceans bordering the east and west coasts.
Pearson’s choice of design eventually lost out, but the fact an eightyear-old had a stake in the game over the new flag shows how much of a debate the country was having at the time.
“Everyone was very interested in it; we knew that there was going to be a change and it was a big change, and it was an important time in Canadian history — and I think people really got that,” Cook said.
He was one of many who gathered at Government House in Regina on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary. Many in attendance spoke about the pride they felt in the flag.
Deputy premier Ken Krawetz was on hand to cut the ribbon on a new exhibit at Government House that explores the history of the flag.
“It will allow people the opportunity to look at some of the history before the flag was created and recognize how we have come to this day,” he said.