Quill and Quire

REVIEWS

« Back to
Book Reviews

I Stand for Canada: The Story of the Maple Leaf Flag

by Rick Archbold

Post baby-boom Canadians probably have no idea that the adoption of the official red maple-leaf flag in 1965 followed a fractious, decades-long debate both inside and outside of Parliament. Diefenbaker’s Conservatives, representing the majority of older, anglo Canadians (especially veterans), favoured the Canadian Red Ensign – with the Union Jack in one corner and the diminutive Canadian coat of arms in the centre – which had long been the country’s de facto flag. Prime Minister Lester Pearson and his Liberals, championing a new form of inclusive nationalism that de-emphasized the country’s colonial ties, favoured three red maple leafs cojoined on a single stem framed by wavy blue bands symbolizing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

A compromise was eventually reached, the result of which is the flag Canadians around the world fly today. Rick Archbold follows the long road to official flagdom – and the history of the maple leaf’s treasured position in Canadian heraldry – in I Stand for Canada: The Story of the Maple Leaf Flag ($45 cloth 1-55199-108-X, 186 pp., Macfarlane Walter & Ross). Archbold’s lively essay is backed with a broad and often funny selection of archival hotos, postcards, posters, and reproductions of historical documents and military paraphernalia. Of special interest are the dozens of rejected flag designs, which range from the charmingly folksy to the downright bizarre.

 

Reviewer: James Grainger

Publisher: Macfarlane Walter & Ross

DETAILS

Price: $45

Page Count: 186 pp

Format: Cloth

ISBN: 1-55199-108-X

Issue Date: 2003-1

Categories: Children and YA Non-fiction, History