A Canadian Flag For Canada

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was tied to its economic value, and both plummeted in the early nineteenth century. Not only did the fur trade largely bypass Montréal after the amalgamation of the North West and the Hudson's Bay Companies, but what beaver trade there was declined with the advent of the silk hat. This left the maple leaf as the pre-eminent Canadian symbol. A year later, the maple leaf made its first appearance upon a Canadian flag, albeit an informal flag: the patriotes of Saint-Eustache carried a banner with a design of striking similarity to masthead of the Le Canadien.

Following Confederation, the country gained its first official and distinctively Canadian flag: the Governor General's flag, adopted in 1870, bore a wreath of maple leaves in the centre. Then, just prior to its centennial, the country gained its first official and exclusively Canadian flag: the National Flag, raised in 1965, bore a single maple leaf in the centre.

In the intervening ninety-five years, the maple leaf was ...

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Was the primary allegiance owed to Canada, and thus a national loyalty? Was the primary allegiance owed to the centre of the British Empire, and thus an imperial loyalty? Civilities were long strained as the tension between the two loyalties pulled the country first in one direction and then the other.

It catered to the biases of many people to believe that the division between the imperial loyalty and the national loyalty ran down the middle of the Ottawa River. Actually, the division did not lie as much between the French and English cultures as it did between the English-Canadian nationalists and English-Canadian imperialists. Although Francophone nationalists were active in the ...

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