Brian Mulroney lobbied for it as a student. Stephen Harper polled neighbours as a 5-year-old. It was a dream come true for Lester Pearson
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With Donald J. Trump threatening our economy with crippling tariffs and openly musing about turning us into the 51st state, Canadians are more united than at any time in decades. He’s stirred amongst us a renewed pride and patriotism.
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So that makes today, National Flag of Canada Day, even more special. It was exactly 60 years ago that Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson’s dream came true and a distinctive flag for Canada first flew above the Parliament Buildings.
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It was Feb. 15, 1965.
“At noon today, in this eighth month of our 98th year as a Confederation,” he said, “our new flag will fly for the first time in the skies above Canada and in places overseas where Canadians serve… Under this flag may our youth find new inspiration for loyalty to Canada; for a patriotism based not on any mean or narrow nationalism, but on the deep and equal pride that all Canadians will feel for every part of this good land.”
Pearson was not the first prime minister to celebrate a national flag for Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald, of course, literally and figuratively, in his most famous election poster, wrapped himself in the flag when warning us of earlier threats of American domination of our country.
So, to mark National Flag Day, herewith are the words our prime ministers have used when invoking, creating and celebrating Canada’s evolving flag:
Our country is Canada, it is the whole of what is covered by the British flag on the American continent, the fertile lands bordered by the Bay of Fundy, the Valley of the St. Lawrence, the region of the Great Lakes, the prairies of the West, the Rocky Mountains, the lands washed by the famous ocean where breezes are said to be as sweet as the breezes of the Mediterranean.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Jacques Cartier Hall, Quebec City, Quebec, June 24, 1889
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To those, sir, who have life before them, let my prayer be this: Remember from this day forth never to look simply at the horizon, as it may be limited by the limits of the province, but look abroad all over the continent, wherever the British flag floats, and let your motto be Canada first, Canada last, Canada always.
Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Massey Hall, Toronto, Oct. 14, 1904
It does seem that we should have some method by which to identify ourselves in the eyes of those who look upon our bunting as it floats in the wind. I visited Australia and New Zealand some months ago, and it would be a brave man indeed who would say that New Zealand was lacking in loyalty to the British crown. Yet New Zealand has a distinctive flag which it has adopted for a definite purpose. Australia, too, has a distinctive flag, and I do not think the casual observer would state that there is less devotion and loyalty to the British crown in Australia than in Canada. In fact, I think it possible that the opposite view might be taken. Those countries found no difficulty in selecting their flags.
Rt. Hon. R.B. Bennett, House of Commons, Feb. 14, 1938
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Before waking, was dreaming of what to do about a national anthem for Canada… I then thought of the Union Jack. Felt that it could be proclaimed as the national flag of the United Kingdom, that the Dominions could have a Union Jack in the corner, to show historical evolution… though with each having its own distinct flag as well.
Prime Minister Mackenzie King in his diary, March 20, 1944
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The basic fallacy of the whole separatist argument is the assumption that the only way to remedy this situation is by secession from Confederation. This is not so. On the contrary we believe that there are several things the Canadian government could – and should – do to improve matters. Such matters would ipso facto serve to destroy much of the basics of the separatist cause. The surprise announcement of one of these… would deal a heavy blow to the separatist cause. The measures which I would advocate are on a level less material than emotional, but the appeal of the separatist movement itself is largely emotional… They are as follows: A declaration that bilingualism will be progressively established in all branches of the federal civil service and Crown corporations. An announcement of the adoption of O Canada as our country’s national anthem… A distinctive Canadian flag.
Telegram from Quebec law student Brian Mulroney to Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, Quebec City, October 1961
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I believe most sincerely that it is time now for Canadians to unfurl a flag that is truly distinctive and truly national in character; as Canadian as the maple leaf which should be its dominant design; a flag easily identifiable as Canada’s; a flag which cannot be mistaken for the emblem of any other country; a flag of the future which honours also the past; Canada’s own and only Canada’s.
Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, speech to a hostile audience of Royal Canadian Legion Members who were intent on keeping the Red Ensign, Winnipeg, May 17, 1964
Let us resolve here and now for the sake of all Canadians that this flag, the highest emblem of our nationhood, will never, ever fly over a divided country.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, 25th anniversary of the Canadian flag, Parliament Hill, Ottawa, Feb. 15, 1990
More than 30 years had passed since the PC youth platform at St. FX that I helped craft had called for the adoption of a distinctive flag for Canada. I had also had the temerity to lobby Diefenbaker himself for a new flag. Not surprisingly, the Old Chief ignored the advice of a young student from Baie Comeau. After the ceremony — as Dief surely glared down on us from above — I walked back to my office, through a snowstorm, with Hilary Pearson, Mike Pearson’s granddaughter.
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in his memoirs recalling his participation in the celebrations on the 25th anniversary of the Canadian flag
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I think something magical happened that cold day 30 years ago when Lester Pearson raised our flag for the first time. Because in no time at all, the flag became a symbol that everyone embraced. It became the symbol not of a government or a party or an elite. But of the people. Quietly, confidently, naturally, the Canadian people took ownership.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, 30th anniversary of the flag, Ottawa, Feb. 15, 1995
Many of us remember where we were the day the red maple leaf was raised for the first time to the top of the flagpole — in school yards and city squares, outside town halls and people’s homes, and of course here on Parliament Hill. We felt a bolt of patriotism. We felt that Canada, then not even a century old, had suddenly grown up.
Prime Minister Paul Martin Jr., Canada Day, Ottawa, July 1, 2005
It represents us. And that’s why we feel so proud when we see it flying at home and abroad. And it is our duty, as Canadian citizens, to ensure that this flag inspires just as much pride in future generations. Because soon, we will be asking them to carry it — and our country — farther and higher.
Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper, National Flag Day, Ottawa, Feb. 15, 2006
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As a five-year-old boy, I decided to plough right into this, insisting on asking everyone in the street what their position was on the flag, and why. I was just curious. I remember that about half the people wanted the old flag, but they actually fell into two camps. For most of them, the old flag was the Canadian Red Ensign, but for a smaller and very passionate group, it meant the Union Jack. For the other half of the people on our street, which, by the way, included my parents, they wanted the new flag, but there was also a bit of division there, because some of you may remember, there were two principal designs for the new flag.
Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper, recalling his childhood memories of the Flag Debate, Leaside, Ont., April 27, 2013
Feb. 15, 1965, was the day the new flag… was first raised over the Peace Tower. I remember the emotion of the moment and also recall my own pride and excitement when I first saw that flag fly high and proud in Ottawa. Canada itself had changed. A new nation dawned.
Former prime minister John Turner recalling the Flag Debate, Kingston Whig-Standard, Jan. 1, 2014
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In many ways, the maple leaf is the promise of Canada. The promise that every generation can reach even higher than the last. On this National Flag of Canada Day, let’s work to secure the promise of the flag, embody its values, and build a better, more prosperous future, together.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, National Flag Day, Ottawa, Feb. 15, 2024
Kingston’s Arthur Milnes, a past speechwriter to prime minister Stephen J. Harper and Brian Mulroney’s memoirs assistant, is the author of Art’s History, a daily column on National Newswatch that celebrates important dates from Canadian political history.
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