Background Amid
much controversy, the
Parliament of Canada in 1964 voted to adopt a new design for the
Canadian flag and issued a call for submissions. This flag would replace the
Canadian Red Ensign, which had been, with various successive alterations, in conventional use as the national flag of
Canada since 1868. Nearly 4,000 designs were submitted by Canadians. Under the leadership of
Prime Minister Lester Pearson, resolutions recommending the new design were passed by the
House of Commons on December 15, 1964, and by the
Senate two days later. The flag was proclaimed by
Elizabeth II,
Queen of Canada, on January 28, 1965, and took effect "upon, from and after" February 15 that year.
Flag Day , 2015 National Flag of Canada Day was instituted in 1996 by an
order in council from Governor General
Roméo LeBlanc, on the initiative of Prime Minister
Jean Chrétien. At the first Flag Day ceremony in
Hull, Quebec, Chrétien was confronted by demonstrators against proposed cuts to the
unemployment insurance system, and while walking through the crowd he
grabbed by the neck and pushed aside a protester who had approached him. In 2010, on the flag's 45th anniversary, federal ceremonies were held to mark Flag Day at
Ottawa,
Winnipeg,
St. John's, and at
Whistler and
Vancouver in conjunction with the
2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. In 2011, Prime Minister
Stephen Harper observed Flag Day by presenting two citizens, whose work honoured the
military, with Canadian flags that had flown over the
Peace Tower. It was announced as inaugurating an annual recognition of patriotism. In 2025, just before the flag's 60th anniversary,
Joe Clark,
Kim Campbell, Jean Chrétien,
Paul Martin and Stephen Harper, the five living former prime ministers of Canada, wrote an open letter calling on all Canadians to fly the flag as a sign of national unity during the
2025 United States trade war with Canada and Mexico. ==See also==