Last modified: 2006-03-25 by phil nelson
Keywords: canadian pale: original |
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Reported on the national TV news (15 February 2000) was the "discovery" of the
first Canadian maple leaf flag. The flag was first flown on 15 February, 1965, but
no-one seemed to know what happened to the actual flag that was raised on that day.
It turns out that the the then-prime minister, Lester B. Pearson, took the flag
and put it up in the Liberal Party caucas board room, where it has been ever since.
A newspaper reporter started digging, and found it. The modern Liberals (again the
governing party) claim that they knew that was the original flag all along, and
have now donated it to a heritage museum. Of course the opposition parties all cried
foul, claiming the Liberals had deliberately hidden it.
Rob Raeside, 16 February 2000
The flag has been found since then and I believe I sent to the list information related to the finding. Anyway, the flag has returned to Canada, as explained on CBC news, 15 February 2006:
[…]
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was on hand for a special ceremony in Ottawa on Wednesday celebrating the flag's return. The flag was first raised over the Peace Tower in the capital during a ceremony on Feb. 15, 1965.
Glenn Wright was the federal archivist who was responsible for finding out what happened.
Lowering that first banner "was a bit of a letdown," he said. "It just slipped their mind."
Not knowing what else to do, Parliament Hill staff gave the flag to Lucien Lamoureux, then deputy Speaker of the House. He later became Canada's ambassador to Belgium.
In 1998, still in Belgium, a terminally ill Lamoureux asked soldier Jack Stevenson to drape his coffin with the flag, then return it to Canada. But in the distress surrounding the funeral, Lamoureux's widow, Elisabeth Hoffmann-Lamoureux, couldn't find the flag.
"I promised him at the time that I would look after that request," said Stevenson. "Unfortunately, that never happened."
But Stevenson never forgot his promise, and when he heard Ottawa had lost track of that first flag, he got in touch. After a series of delays and setbacks – Hoffmann-Lamoureux was in a pension dispute with the government – the flag was finally returned in time for Canada Day last year.
[…]
The flag will be on display for the next month in the Hall of Honour in the Parliament Buildings."
Ivan Sache, 24 February 2006
The pictures of the original 15 February 1965 ceremony show a flag approx. 3x6 ft (1x2m) being raised in front of the Parliament Buildings.(1)
The story seems to talk about the first flag raised atop the peace tower. The peace tower flag is a much larger flag (7 feet x 15feet / 2.5 x 5m). It is possible that there are at least two "first flags".?
(1) Archbold [abd02] pp 109-110
Dean McGee, 26 February 2006