canada

"A FLAG THAT IS CANADA'S OWN AND ONLY CANADA'S "
Lester Bowles Pearson, Prime Minister of Canada, 1963-1968
OUR MAPLE LEAF FLAG is such a familiar symbol of Canada that we forget how young it really is. This year marks its 32nd birthday. When the flag was first raised on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on February 15, 1965, Canada proudly took a new place among the nations of the world.

A NATIONAL CONTROVERSY.Creating a new flag stirred a national debate. Many Canadians were strongly attached to the Red Ensign - the British Union Jack and the Canadian coat of arms on a red field. It had been used, officially and unofficially, for generations. For many veterans and their families, it was the banner under which Canada had gone to war.

But Prime Minister Lester Pearson believed that time had come for a national flag "which could not be mistaken for the emblem of any other country and which...would be a strong unifying force" for Canada.

For a long time, it looked like the debate would divide Canadians, rather than unite them. Arguments for and against a new flag raged in Parliament and across the country. From coast to coast, Canadians leaped into the debate by creating their own designs for a new flag. The parliamentary mail room was swamped with drawings.

RAISING THE MAPLE LEAF.One feature that most designs had in common was the maple leaf, which had been a Canadian emblem since as early as 1700. Both French and English Canadians had a fondness for the maple leaf. The St. Jean-Baptiste Society of Quebec endorsed it as a symbolfor Canada in 1834. Canadian Olympic athletes have worn the maple leaf symbol since 1904. A maple leaf dominated the badges worn by Canadians in both world wars.

It was up to a House of Commons committee to come up with a final design. After 41 meetings spent sifting through some 2,000 designs, listening to advice from experts, and arguing among themselves, the committee members finally agreed on a flag with a single red maple leaf on a white background, flanked by two red bars. It was that flag that Parliament approved on December 15, 1964, and that Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed on January 28, 1965.

The creation of Canada's flag marked the culmination of half a century of effort by many individuals. Among them was Maj. Gen. Eugène Fiset, who recommended in 1918 that Canada's emblem be a single red maple leaf on a white field. In 1921, King George V proclaimed red and white as Canada's official colours. At the time of the flag debate, heraldry experts Capt. Alan Beddoe and Col. Fortescue Duguid promoted the maple leaf symblo. John Matheson, M.P., played a key role in the work of the parliamentary committee, which was ably chaired by Herman Batten, M.P. Dr. George Stanley drew the committee's attention to the Royal Military College Commandant's flag - a maple leaf on a red and white ground. The stylized maple leaf of Canada's national flag was designed by Jacques St. Cyr.

The maple leaf flag was raised for the first time at noon on February 15, 1965, during special ceremonies on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Those ceremonies were replayed countless times across the country that day as Canadians gathered together in small towns and villages and in city neighbourhoods to celebrate a flag that was of their own making and uniquely Canadian.

The speaker of the Senate, Maurice Bourget, used that historic occasion to sum up the feelings of many Canadians: "The flag stands for the unity of the nation," he said. "It speaks for all the citizens of Canada regardless of their race, language, creed or opinion."

Today, thirty one years later, the maple leaf flag has achieved what Lester Pearson hoped it might. Around the world and in the hearts of Canadians, it truly "stands for Canada."

the above was pinched from somewhere..if i could recall where i would give credit where credit is due..it's really just a placeholder till i get this done