The Canadian flag in the context of ‘Freedom Convoy’ and residential schools

Canada Day usually arrives in a burst of red and white, with citizens and newcomers waving this nation’s flag in celebration.

But months after the ‘Freedom Convoy’ brought downtown Ottawa to a standstill, with Canadian flags waving from trucks and prominently displayed in protest crowds, some Canadians are reconsidering what the flag means to them. And since the discovery of unmarked graves in residential schools that highlighted the devastating impact of colonialism on this country, the question of whether the Canadian flag is worth defending has been more complicated than ever.

Ahead of this Canada Day, Toronto resident Puneet Luthra said he has always raised the flag at his home to celebrate the holiday, but this year feels different for him.

“The sad part is that sometimes I wonder what people will think if I raise the flag,” Luthra told The Canadian Press. “People might think I’m someone with fringe ideas, like anti-vaccines and things like that.”

Another Ontario resident, Megan Ball Rigden, told CP she has reservations about the Canadian flag due to the country’s colonial history and doesn’t think one would fly, “regardless of the convoy.”

Forrest Pass, a historian and curator at Library and Archives Canada, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview that he’s seeing fewer Canadian flags around Ottawa this week than usual.

“[On] Canada Day, particularly in the nation’s capital, we see flags everywhere. It’s just part of the street furniture here,” she said. “But certainly there have been fewer and anecdotally I have been hearing that [the convoy is] a reason why people aren’t flying them.”

Still, a recent survey of more than 1,000 Canadians found that 76 percent of them would be proud to fly the Canadian flag, with 14 percent disagree with that statement.

The same survey, conducted by Counsel Public Affairs Inc., also asked participants how Canada Day should be celebrated in light of racial discrimination and colonial injustice in Canadian society.

Nearly half (47 percent) of those surveyed said the day should be dedicated to both celebration and reflection, while 41 percent said it is a day to celebrate, leaving reflection for another day. Twelve percent of those surveyed said Canada Day should be strictly about reflecting on the country’s shortcomings.

For some who have chosen not to fly the Canadian flag this holiday, the concern is that it could signal an allegiance to a specific movement they don’t support, such as the ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests.

During the weeks that the convoy occupied Ottawa, supporters adorned their trucks and vehicles with full-size Canadian flags.

“It is not uncommon in the US to see people from across the political spectrum using the flag to represent notions of what it means to be an American,” Pass explained. “We haven’t had that to the same extent until relatively recently.”

Pass said some Freedom Convoy supporters were tapping into a more American brand of patriotism by wearing the Canadian flag during the protest.

“[The] intention was to associate [the protesters’] goals and objectives, their values ​​with Canadian patriotism, and therefore they proclaim that those ideas, their kind of fundamentalist notion of liberty, is uniquely Canadian, uniquely Canadian,” Pass said. “Unlike the positions of his opponents and the vast majority of us, who don’t necessarily sympathize with his positions.”

THE HISTORY OF THE FLAG

While the American flag has been around for nearly 250 years and has a dramatic origin story, “supposedly sewn by Betsy Ross at the behest of a general during the Revolutionary War,” Pass said, Canada’s flag is relatively young and came into the world. . in a calmer way.

The Canadian flag we know today was launched by the Liberal Party in 1964 to replace the Red Ensign, a temporary national flag that was sometimes used as an alternative to England’s Union Jack at the time.

When the maple leaf flag was designed, it was far from a national rallying cry, and many associated it purely with the Liberal Party, Pass said.

“It is only in the past, I would say, 20, maybe 30 years that we start to see those on the center right embracing the maple leaf flag so enthusiastically,” he said.

Other flags have been used politically in the past along the Canadian fault lines, he explained, and the maple leaf as an iconographic piece has previously been used by white nationalist groups in Canada, such as by a pro-Nazi party based in Québec. in the 1930s.

The red flag, for example, is often adopted by white nationalist organizations, which felt in the 1960s that it should not be replaced “because it represented Canada’s place in the empire,” Pass said, adding that these organizations felt that “Part of the greatness of the empire came from racial purity.”

But in terms of the classic red-and-white flag, it’s so relatively young that it hasn’t had as many opportunities to be used as a controversial symbol, Pass said.

“We’re not so used to seeing it used in such a partisan way,” he said.

The idea behind a national flag is that it represents “all of us,” Heather Nicol, director of the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University, told CTVNews.ca in a video call.

“At the Olympics, people wrap themselves in the flag, because they represent Canada, or it flies over Parliament Hill or over institutions, but when someone co-opts it and says: ‘it represents only this point of view and no other point of view’ , that has a sobering effect, I think,” he said.

Part of the uncomfortable feelings some Canadians are having around the flag this Canada Day may stem from the jarring sight of the Canadian flag waving alongside Nazi symbols during protests in Ottawa, he said.

Many Freedom Convoy affiliates have stated that those displaying hate symbols were a small fringe portion that they do not approve of.

THE STAIN OF RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

Talk about the Canadian flag and other symbols of patriotism have been ongoing for years, but appear to be ramping up.

“It’s not just the Freedom Convoy,” Nicol said.

In 2021, Canada Day looked different in many cities, with people swapping their usual red and white for orange shirts to honor indigenous lives in the wake of the confirmation of unmarked graves at three former residential schools, a number that has grown, with at least 1,800 confirmed or suspected unmarked graves having since been identified. Hundreds more schools are still registering.

For an overwhelming number of indigenous people, the Canadian flag has never been a symbol with which to identify.

“The flag was adopted in 1965 and the last residential school closed in 1996,” Pass said. “So for more than 30 years, this is a flag that has flown over residential schools. This was a flag that for many indigenous people was a symbol of colonialism.”

The flag has been used before to make gestures of reconciliation, such as lowering flags to half-staff for months in 2021 following the first announcements of unmarked graves. But considering Canada poor track record In taking concrete steps toward reconciliation, many indigenous people have said that the Canadian flag does not convey a sense of belonging.

Last year, there were calls to “Cancel Canada Day,” and this year, several indigenous communities have said they will not recognize the day, such as the Six Nations of the Great River. The community said in a statement this week this week that “we hope that more than a day of celebration, July 1 can be a day of somber reflection and renewed commitments to advance the reconciliation process.”

The statement called on Canadians to wear orange once again to honor the children lost in the residential school system, as well as the survivors.

THE FLAG IN CONTEXT

Canadians concerned that their flag may be misunderstood should remember that context plays a role.

As the sound of endless horns blared through Ottawa in February, Pass recalled his neighbor hanging a Canadian flag outside the house along with signs like “vaccination mandates save lives” to make that household’s standing clearer.

Because of the flag’s straightforward and simple design, it lends itself to many edits that allow people to add identities and values ​​to it, Pass said, noting that there are LGBTQ2S+ versions of the Canadian flag, as well as an indigenous redesign. These versions can allow people to express themselves even more.

The general question of whether the flag itself is worth supporting, considering its colonial past and Canada’s flaws, is less certain, experts say.

Symbols change over time as societies do, and the question is one that will continue to be asked.

“I think it can only really be tainted or taken over by one political faction if everyone else allows it,” Pass said.

He added that continuing to have these conversations is important, a sentiment echoed by Nicol.

“I think [the flag] it can be a symbol of togetherness again, but I think right now it’s a symbol of ‘we’ve got a lot of work to do,’” he said. “I am not celebrating a legacy, I am not celebrating a history. I’m just celebrating the opportunity and hoping that we can do better.”

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