Other Canadian flags (Canada)

The flag of Canada, when forced to 2:3 ratio, looses the distinct balance of the "Canadian pale", which is a (white) square between two (red) half squares.

In 2:3 ratio, the side panels get squeezed proportionally, leaving a much narrower central area, where the maple leaf (equilateral in its normative depiction) must be reduced in order to not overlap the lateral panels and in the process a lot of extra white space is visible on the flag.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 26 July 2007

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There is a local hotel, not that far from where I live, and pass it every day on the way to work, that has at least 8 of these flying on the roof of the hotel (one at each corner, and 1 or 2 spaced out between the corner ones on the edge of the roof). However, it's even more visually jarring, not only is it 2:3, but it isn't even in Canadian pale, the bars are equal width! I guess a Peruvian civil flag with a maple leaf in the middle. Of course, no one notices, or cares.
David Kendall, 27 July 2007

I've seen recently Canadian flags with two thin blue stripes between each red stripe and the white center.
I saw this flag in Montreal twice at pro-unity manifestations and a third time as a bumper sticker.
Anybody know what it this flag is?
Luc V. Baronian, 27 January 1997

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Possibly a reconciliation flag to incorporate the colours (blue and white) of Quebec with those of Canada (red and white).
Chris Pinette

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It could be Chris, a lot of people I've asked came up with that same hypothesis. I thought it might also be a country wide French-Canadian flag. Or, a political movement. Or, (I don't know why) I think it looks like a navy flag...

I really think it has something to do with Canadian unity, because of the places I've seen it :

• The night of the referendum on Independence in the "NO" room;
• The Canadian love-in in Montreal (to convince Quebecers to stay in Canada),
• and also in Ottawa or Hull in last year's celebration of the Flag Day (the first one ever).

Luc Baronian, 29 January 1997

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I just was searching Yahoo! Canada looking for new flag links when I came across the Canadian flag with blue fimbriation at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/trcf/ [ed: currently www.trcf.ca"].
It says:
TRCF for Canadian Unity
Unity Flag recognizing Canada's duality: French and English-speaking people together. French Canada and English Canada.
Approx. 25% of the border is coloured blue representing the Francophones in Canada.
This Unity Flag may one day become Canada's officially renewed Canadian Flag symbolizing "unity and harmony" on our national emblem.
Mark Sensen - 29 May 1997

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The TRCF website says:

TRCF for Canadian Unity
Pour l'Uniti Canadienne

Unity Flag recognizing Canada's duality: French and English-speaking people together. French Canada and English Canada.

Le drapeau pour l'unité reconnaissant la dualité canadienne : les francophones et les anglophones ensemble.

Approx. 25% of the border is coloured blue representing the Francophones in Canada.

Environ 25% de la bordure [entre les champs rouge et blanc] est coloriée en bleu, et représente la francophonie au Canada.

The same symbolism as the Union Jack making our Maple Leaf flag even more beautiful without losing our own identity.

Un symbolisme identique à celui de l'Union Jack rend notre drapeau unifolié encore plus beau sans que nous perdions notre identité propre.

Canada is "the Red and the Blue". Our national sport hockey, truly reflects our duality and our common heritage:

Le Canada est "Rouge et Bleu". Notre sport national, le hockey, reflète vraiment notre dualité et notre héritage commun :

Wayne Gretzky / Mario Lemieux.....Bobby Orr / Guy Lafleur.....Gordie Howe / Jean Biliveau.

Among the best in the music industry...Parmi les meilleurs dans l'industrie musicale :

K.D. Lang....Shania Twain / Ciline Dion.........Brian Adams / Roch Voisine.

No. 1 in the world......No. 1 dans le monde: Elvis Stojko / Jacques Villeneuve.

Secondly it also revives the notion of a strong united Canada from "sea to shining sea".

Deuxièmement, ce drapeau fait renaître l'idée d'un Canada fort et uni "de la mer à la mer".

This Unity Flag may one day become Canada's officially renewed Canadian Flag symbolizing "unity and harmony" on our national emblem.

Ce drapeau pour l'Unité pourrait un jour devenir officiellement le drapeau rénové du Canada, symbolisant "l'unité et l'harmonie" sur notre emblème national.

Mark Sensen, 29 May 1997
Randy Young, 12 December 1998
standardized by Ivan Sache, 19 January 2002

The Unilisé is a stylized fleur-de-lis banner which symbolizes Quebec's historical ties in Canada. It is based on the international symbol of la francophonie which is the 'lis' (also 'lys', ref: lilly), as used in the Quebec flag, and the banner's design models that of the Unifolié (Maple Leaf Flag) which features one large maple leaf. It came about after the severe division caused by the Quebec separatist movement. At the height of the tension in the referendums of 1980 and 1995, Quebec's Fleur-de-lis flag was more or less hijacked by the separatist movement as their own. Pure wool Quebecers, of Canadian allegiance, would no longer fly the Fleur-de-lis flag because they would have been perceived as separatists, while others completely disowned it. Furthermore, the Quebec flag would never be flown by federalists without flying the Canadian flag along side it, to show their allegiance, two flags were always needed.

As a result of this, the unique and distinct Unilisé banner was created, in 1996, to symbolize our proud 'souches Québécoise/Canadienne' (roots) in Canada, the country created by our ancestors. It symbolizes and characterizes the following mottos:

Un Québec fort dans un Canada uni	A strong Quebec in a united Canada....(Claude Ryan, Robert Bourassa)
Le Québec ma patrie, le Canada mon pays	....Quebec my homeland, Canada my country....(Jean Leasge)
Mon Québec inclut le Canada	My Quebec includes Canada

and borrowing from Quebec's own motto by Eugène-Étienne Taché, but with a slight twist: "Je me souviens, que né sous le lis, j'ai fleuri sous la rose"....I remember, that born under the 'lis' (French), I flourished under the rose (English)

(Notice the passé composé j'ai fleuri from the official je fleuris to symbolize the repatriation of the constitution in 1982 and the severing of parliamentry ties with Britain).

The Unilisé was circulated among Quebec federalist groups in 1996, but has never been promoted otherwise. It was flown in Montreal in the big rally of Dec. 2000 where over 70,000 people, both French and English-speaking, protested against the anti-democratic, forced mergers of cities that was conducted by the governing separatist party.

The Unilisé banner also flew along side the Canadian Duality Flag on the Bank Street bridge over the Rideau Canal, in July 2001, for Les Jeux de la francophonie in Ottawa/Hull. The bridge is located at the entrance of Lansdowne Park Stadium where the opening ceremonies were held and where the flags were seen by close to 20,000 people. When passersby questioned the meaning of the flags, 'blue in the Canadian flag and red in the stylized Quebec banner', the answer "mettre de l'eau dans son vin" (turn the rhetoric down a notch) was well liked, especially by Francophones.

The Unilisé's colours are Quebec royal blue and Canada red.
Hank Gigandet, 8 November 2005

After a recent biker battle in Quebec, there was a TV report on the bikers, including the Hell's Angels. There, clearly blowing in the breeze, was fully extended Hell's Angels' flag - I wonder if it is an international flag, or a Canadian version. It was similar in design to the Canadian flag - 1:2, but with the red-white-red showing a bit more white that usual, maybe 1-3-1 instead of 1-2-1. The reason for this is that the maple leaf was replaced by a large brown winged skull, the emblem of the Hell's Angels. Is this flag known around, or is it a local phenomenon?
Rob Raeside, 31 October 1997

I once saw a blue and white Canadian flag. It was the same as the current maple leaf, but was colored blue and white instead of red and white. This was in July, 1970, in Dwight Ontario. When I asked a local person why this flag was blue he said that it had been a rejected design trial for the 1965 flag. He also said it was a French-Canadian design. He was English-Canadian and got very upset about it. He said that this irritating French-Canadian person shouldn't be flying it. He was going to take it up with the town council that night. I never saw the flag again. I assumed that the design was French-Canadian preferred because of the blue color instead of red for the English.
Kevin McNamara, 19 October 1998

A blue and white Canadian pale with a modified "Burning Man" festival logo for emblem, its usual diamond shaped head replaced with a Canadian maple leaf. The photos I have (sent or pointed to in this list a couple of years ago) show this flag, neatly manufactored at some 1×2 m, hoisted from a van or truck in (supposedly) the Black Rock desert (US-NV). Filename identifies this as the flag of Kanadian Broadkasting Korporation.

It is said that this was one of the approximately 40 FM radio stations present at the 2001 "Burning Man" festival.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 14 October 2005

The new National Day of Mourning flag was created by the Canadian Auto Workers.

Source: Canadian Auto Workers website
Garry Borgacci, 11 October 2007

1.) The Provisional flag on display in southern Alberta, is 2 bi-colour; with a blue star on a yellow background. Adopted 1982.

2.) The five points of the star stand for the Canadian, British, American, French and Natives.

3.) The Chinook Foothills Authority represents under the CRU in the part of the southern Alberta.

4.) It has no territory, except a few buildings and other.
Scot Washburn, 8 October 2007

The Republic of Western Canada has a flag. The story and the flag are here.
Valentin Poposki, 4 January 2006

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Sounds a lot like a USA look alike.

In the early part of the page, there is what looks like a flag, top half blue with four white stars, bottom half red and white stripes with some of them making a "mountain" on the hoist side. But down at the bottom, or on the page about the book, the cover shows a flag which is the USA flag with a large white maple leaf in the canton. I wonder which is thought to be the actual flag of the "republic" and if it is the one on the book, why have 13 stripes if they are only including the 7 western areas.?
Michael P. Smuda, 4 January 2006

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The image at the bottom of the page is part of an ad for a book called "The Republic of Canada", advocating that Canada, in its entirety, become a republic, a different proposal than what is advocated in the main body of the "Republic of Western Canada" webpage. So there are two distinct flag designs for two distinct political proposals.
Ned Smith, 4 January 2005

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More precisely, an independent Western Canada modeled after the US political model (hence the two designs, although I think the book one wasn't meant to be the flag of an independent Western Canada, but merely an illustration for the cover to state their point with a graphic (and what better way than with a flag?). A striking flag example (on the website, not necessarily the book cover), if I do say, but as a Westerner I wouldn't support their model. Not that I'm against (or for) Western independence, just their stripe of it. I also don't think I'm alone, so those out there don't have to worry that the West will separate any time soon.
David Kendall, 5 January 2006

I've seen it a few times, it appears to invariably be used by supporters of decriminalization of marijuana in Canada, the leaf in the middle is either red or natural green (I've seen both versions). It may also be the official party flag of the Marijuana Party, but that's merely speculation on my part.
David Kendall, 10 April 2007

The maple leaf design comes from a vintage leaf shape chosen originally by Hockey Canada for use (along with the regular leaf) on the designs of the uniforms of the men's and women's National teams since their 2002 double Olympic gold victories. The specific shape was chosen as the one to represent past use and is associated with great success and popularity. It has come to be known as the "Vintage Leaf" and is now seen on flags (and elsewhere) in place of the regular maple leaf to produce the "Canadian Vintage Leaf Flag", an alternate leaf design to the regular 11-point one.
Mike Palameeno, 4 May 2007