Chapter V. A CANADIAN FLAG FOR CANADA

50 Years of Our Flag has been granted the permission to reproduce Chapter V, "A CANADIAN FLAG FOR CANADA" as part of the educational portion of the project. Alistair B. Fraser completed “The Flags of Canada” in 1998 and guess who wrote the Foreword – John Ross Matheson. “The Flags of Canada” is a great read. http://www.fraser.cc/FlagsCan/ 

If one just “surfs the wave” you often miss what lies underneath. The 50 Years of Our Flag has given the committee members the opportunity to discover the interconnections that may be under the surface but give the project a deeper meaning and mission.

“Under the surface of the 50 Years of Our Flag you will find many more connections that interweave to strengthen the fabric of our project and goals as we work toward February 15th, 2015. The stories of Ontario Judge Austin Chadwick and his nephew Edward M. Chadwick fuse with all of the others that merged their talents to achieve the Canadian Flag in 1965. A phrase from John Ross Matheson’s Foreword to “The Flags of Canada” sums it up:

“For a variety of compelling reasons the mid-sixties was a time when it was imperative to put Canada's symbolic house in order. Could such be achieved in harmony with the past, without disturbance to any part of the Canadian heritage? It has been opined that the mark of a good action is that it withstand the demanding test of history and appear inevitable in retrospect.”

Looking back almost 50 years later it would appear inevitable that the Canadian Flag evolved as it did. Just before Christmas 1964 the future was not nearly so clear!