Why is the maple leaf so important to canada
The real story behind the Canadian Flag
just another day of the office
Robert Levante is on his way to work you
might say he's got the top position on
Parliament Hill every working day it's
his job to change the maple leaf on top
of the peace tower it's a job the flag
master takes very seriously I'm really
doing it for the whole country so it's
really honoured but the whole country
wasn't exactly behind the new flag the
first time it was flown 50 years ago far
from it in fact you might say there was
more than a bit of a flag flap the
spring of 1964 with the old Red Ensign
still flying proudly Prime Minister
Lester Pearson stands before the
National Convention of the Legion and
Winnipeg to pitch his plan but it is
time now for Canadians in the course of
our national evolution to unfurl a flag
that is truly distinctive and truly
national in character
it didn't go well
but Pearson persisted after witnessing
Egypt resist Canadian peacekeepers
during the Suez Crisis years before for
wearing what they considered a British
flag
he knew Canada needed its own symbol it
was really important to him to have a
flag something that was uniquely
Canadian historian and archivist Glenn
Wright says Pearson was in for the fight
of his political career opposition
leader diefenbaker let loose when a
prime minister
decides that he's going to trample on
the things of the Spirit then indeed
we've arrived at a position not in
keeping with the principles of democracy
we can live under the same flag we've
been living under ever since Canada
existed all summer there were protests
even reports of fistfights as Pearson
attempted to sell his idea for the new
flag his idea was three Maple Leafs
bordered in blue but it was going badly
by the fall even a parliamentary
committee struck to settle the matter
was deadlocked until the memo that
molded the maple leaf surfaced he could
take of one piece of chalk and he could
draw the map of Canada in one single
piece without lifting the chalk delos
Stanley is talking about her father
George Stanley was the Dean of Arts at
the Royal Military College in Kingston a
proud Canadian months before he had been
asked for his ideas about a new flag by
liberal MP John Matheson who was helping
Pearson the last thing John apparently
said to my dad was George when you have
a moment jot down your ideas and mostly
what he was looking for or sort of the
rules for heraldry for selecting flags
but George Stanley also like to think
with his pen and he drew his favorite
idea based in part on the college's flag
but with a single maple leaf in the
middle it was to become part of history
the parliamentary committee was showing
George Stanley's idea there was this
design that had been so
just at months before it broke down and
it broke the logjam the vote was
unanimous minor changes were made eleven
points instead of thirteen but thanks to
George Stanley the maple leaf was born
there it is a red maple leaf the
animosity on the other hand was far from
dead in high school della Stanley even
heard it from her teachers they would
say how could your dad give us that rag
of a flag and it looks like a beer label
and and so on and so forth and that was
tough he was threatened yes he received
this a letter telling him that because
he had assassinated the flag they would
assassinate him death row it was a death
threat and the police didn't really want
him to go to Ottawa and my father was
not one to back down and he knew it was
an important moment in history made to
stand in the back because his brightly
colored Hudson Bay jacket was a bit of a
target George Stanley absolutely
attended the kids had to stay home but
were hardly forgotten to mark the
occasion he got each one of us a gold
maple leaf now did you ever see the memo
no I have never ever seen the memo
would you like to I would love to it's
on top of my bucket list I think we can
do that this afternoon really you're
kidding really each time della Stanley
tried to see her father's famous memo
something happened and it looks like
it's happening again the memo was mixed
in with other papers locked deep in the
National Archives vault across the river
in Hall
there have been several attempts to
wheel out the right document all who
failed says volume 65 is that sound
right no okay why don't you do the
honors and then there it is there dear
there it is there it is yes let your dad
that's the letter that your father wrote
to John Matheson in the spring of 1964
his signature and the principles on
which he felt the flag should be based
easily recognizable use traditional
colors and traditional emblems serve as
a rallying symbol and hence to be a
unifying force that's what it is that's
what it has these orders this is
fabulous
oh thank you so much
it's time for the flag master to do his
thing
the flag flying over the peace tower is
now so popular the waiting list to
receive one is 48 years long almost as
long as the maple leaf is old look at
that
it's wonderful and every time della
Stanley sees it she smiles and thinks of
dad he must be pretty proud of dad yeah
I'm proud of my father
it flies beautifully happy 50 years
happy birthday may believe happy
birthday red Sheeran CBC News on
Parliament Hill in Ottawa
