Canada’s Romance with the Maple Leaf
It flutters atop the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill and over homes, businesses and federal buildings across the country. Freighters and Coast Guard vessels hoist it at sea. Generations of Canadian globetrotters have stitched it to their backpacks, proclaiming their national pride to the world.
During the First World War, the maple leaf-shaped general list cap badge identified soldiers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. (Photo credit: Veterans Affairs Canada)
Canada’s instantly recognizable Maple Leaf flag celebrates its 60th anniversary on February 15, 2025, with a light display projected onto Centre Block’s Peace Tower and the Senate of Canada Building, as well as the launch of a new art exhibit in the Senate of Canada Building. It’s hard to imagine Canada’s emblem being anything but the Maple Leaf. For over a century, however, the Union Jack and the Red Ensign stood in as Canada’s flag. With the country emerging as a diplomatic power in the 1950s, the Suez Crisis suddenly made Canada’s adopted flag an international issue. In 1956, Egypt seized control of the Suez Canal, the critical shipping route that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean. In response, the project’s shareholders — Great Britain and France — along with Israel, invaded.
Lester B. Pearson made renewing the Canadian flag part of his party’s platform in the 1963 federal election. (Photo credit: Library and Archives Canada)
Canada’s secretary of state for external affairs, Lester B. Pearson, brokered a peace accord for which he was later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He proposed that a United Nations peacekeeping force — the first in history — be stationed between the opposing armies. One snag: Egypt objected to the inclusion of Canadian peacekeepers, associating the Red Ensign on their uniforms with the British occupation force. The country that invented international peacekeeping was unwelcome solely because of the flag it flew. The Red Ensign was becoming an issue back home as well. Polls showed Canadians coalescing around the idea of a distinctively Canadian flag. And what better symbol to rally behind than the maple leaf? Celebrated in the 1867 patriotic song The Maple Leaf Forever, the unassuming frond had been part of Ontario and Quebec’s coats of arms since 1868 and Canada’s since 1921.
Here, Vancouver sprinter Percy Williams takes gold in the 100 metres at the 1928 Olympic Games. (Photo credit: Library of Congress)
Canadian athletes had been wearing the maple leaf in international competition since the early 1900s.
Although an unofficial flag, the Red Ensign — combining the Union Jack and the shield of Canada’s coat of arms — was widely used before 1965 to represent the country. (Photo credit: Canadian Heraldic Authority)
Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson took office in 1963 with a mandate to revamp Canada’s flag. He proposed a design featuring three maple leaves flanked by blue bars, dubbed the Pearson Pennant. (Photo credit: Canadian Heraldic Authority)
As leader of the opposition, Mr. Pearson campaigned in 1963 on a promise to resolve the “flag question” in time for Canada’s centennial celebrations in 1967. Once in office, he pressed the issue and a parliamentary committee formed to look at alternatives.
The flag of the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, inspired historian George Stanley’s maple leaf flag design. (Photo credit: Royal Military College of Canada, Department of National Defence)
Historian George Stanley proposed the concept that became today’s Canadian flag — a red maple leaf flanked by red bars. (Photo credit: University of Alberta Archives)
More than 3,500 proposals flooded in. The committee narrowed the choice to three finalists. The prime minister’s preference, nicknamed the Pearson Pennant, featured three maple leaves flanked by blue bars. A last-minute entry came courtesy of George Stanley, dean of arts at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario. Inspired by his college’s flag, Stanley recommended a single red maple leaf on white with red borders on either side. On October 22, 1964, the committee voted unanimously in favour of Mr. Stanley’s concept. But the flag’s journey had just begun. Enter Jacques St-Cyr, a graphic artist with the federal government’s exhibition commission. Mr. St-Cyr ran the flag through wind-tunnel tests to see how it would look from a distance. He refined the original 13-point maple leaf to the stylized 11-point version in use today.
Heraldry expert Alan Beddoe created the prototypes of the Pearson Pennant and George Stanley’s stylized maple leaf. (Photo credit: Library and Archives Canada)
The revised flag was submitted to the House of Commons, launching another round of passionate and sometimes heated debate. Some members of Parliament argued for retaining symbols of Canada’s British and French origins, while others supported a uniquely Canadian symbol.
On December 15, 1964, after some 250 speeches, the Pearson government forced an end to the debate. MPs voted 163 to 78 for the Maple Leaf. The issue went before the Senate the next day, where senators were also split. “Not only does it tear from our flag any fact which commemorates the British contribution,” Senator Grattan O’Leary said of the Maple Leaf, “but it leaves off the things, the glorious things, to which the French discoverers and founders of this country contributed.”
Other senators viewed this as an advantage.
Graphic artist Jacques St-Cyr finalized the design of the Canadian flag. (Photo credit: Government of Canada)
“Canada is not a colony,” Senator Léon Mercier Gouin said. “But as long as we fly the Union Jack or the Red Ensign, foreigners will conclude that we are still under London’s imperial tutorship.” On December 17, 1964, senators voted 38 to 23 in favour of the new flag, and on January 28, 1965, a royal proclamation signed by Queen Elizabeth II made it official. The flag was inaugurated 18 days later. Thousands gathered on Parliament Hill as the Canadian Red Ensign was lowered and, at the stroke of noon, the Maple Leaf was hoisted. February 15 is now celebrated as National Flag of Canada Day. “The single maple leaf presents an image of dignified simplicity,” Senator David Croll said. “It shows the world a new and yet a well-known image of a nation.”
“It augurs well for Canada’s future.”