The flag debate of 1964 was the pivotal episode in Canadian flag history. It changed Canada for good, making possible the ethnically diverse, socially tolerant country of today. In hindsight, the chosen design seems obvious, almost inevitable. But at the time, a happy result was far from a sure thing.

 

In the 1963 federal election campaign, Liberal Opposition Leader Lester Pearson promised that he would give Canadians a distinct national flag during his first term in office. (Since Confederation, by default Canada’s official national flag had been the British Union Jack.)  Despite winning only a minority government, Pearson was determined to carry through on this promise and deliver aflag for Canada. In the spring of 1964, he unveiled his personal choice: three red maple leaves on a single stem flanked by vertical blue bars. Many people liked the design, thinking the blue bars stood for the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

 

Conservative Leader John Diefenbaker, immediately denounced “Pearson’s pennant” for its rejection of the emblems of Canada’s British and French heritage. Veterans’ groups, led by the Royal Canadian Legion, rallied in support of the Canadian Red Ensign, which since 1867 had been used in one version or another as a de facto national flag without ever having been endorsed by Parliament.

 

 

Canadians were split along generational, ethnic and geographic lines. Younger Canadians, the growing number of citizens whose ancestry was other than British, and the great majority of those living in big cities, wanted an all-new, made-in-Canada flag. Quebec was overwhelmingly in favour. In many families, children argued passionately with their parents. Old friends stopped speaking. And thousands of individuals submitted their own designs for a new flag. In the end, however, it would be up to Parliament to decide.

 

 

On June 15, 2004, Prime Minister Pearson rose in the House of Commons to lead off what came to be known as the Great Flag Debate. The parliamentary wrangling dragged on through July and August, delaying the usual summer recess. Finally, on September 10, Pearson announced that the four party leaders had agreed to the formation of an all-party committee that would recommend a design. Few observers gave the flag committee much chance of agreeing on anything. Yet when it reported back to the House of Commons on October 29, it presented a unanimous choice: a red maple leaf on a field of white, flanked by two vertical red bars—essentially the flag we know today. (The details of the final design, including the precise shape of the elegant, 11-point maple leaf, were being worked out behind the scenes.)

 

Diefenbaker fumed and fulminated—he charged that the winning design was “indistinguishable from the flag of Peru”—and vowed to filibuster the amended flag bill into oblivion. And when the final phase of the flag debate began in the House of Commons on November 30, it looked like aging Tory leader might exhaust the government into submission. But Dief’s hold over his own caucus—particularly its Quebec members—was weakening. For fourteen days the House of Commons debated nothing else but the maple leaf flag. Every possible word that could be said pro or con was said and re-said and said again. Then, on December 9, Tory MP Léon Balcer rose on a point of personal privilege and invited the government to invoke closure, which would force an end to the debate. Balcer was Diefenbaker’s Quebec lieutenant. His defection meant the Quebec caucus had deserted their leader.

 

At 2:15 a.m. on December 15, 1964, the House of Commons finally voted on the flag question. The result wasn’t even close: 163 in favour, 78 opposed. Among the “yays” were all the French-speaking members of the Conservative caucus. Only one Liberal, Ralph Cowan, voted against.

 

Almost exactly two months later, on February 15, 1965, the new maple leaf flag was proclaimed into law. After almost a hundred years as a country, Canada had its own, home-grown national flag.

 

 

The text for this website is based on the book A Flag for Canada by Rick Archbold. For information on other aspects of the Canadian flag story visit www.flagforcanada.ca.

 

 

The printed version of the Lester Pearson’s proposed design that was give to every member of Parliament before the flag debate began. No credit.

The Canadian Red Ensign as it looked in 1921. Courtesy of the Canadian Heraldic Authority/Rd. Rev. D. Ralph Spence collection/Ray Peterson, Photo Features.

Liberal members of Parliament celebrate the passage of the government’s flag resolution in the wee hours of December 1, 1964. Duncan Cameron/PA-142624