Maple Leaf remains a resilient symbol

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/02/2022 (1075 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Canadian flag seems to be composed of a blend of remarkably resilient fabrics.

It’s obviously a material that travels well, fluttering without a wrinkle in Beijing the past two weeks as Canadians celebrated gold, silver and bronze accomplishments.

It must also be treated with an ingredient that is resistant to the stains of insults. The flag maintained its dignity in recent weeks as it was purposely disrespected by blockade protesters who flew it upside down and even mutated it into a version that appeared to be cross-bred with the stars and stripes of our southern neighbour.

The fabric apparently includes a weave of threads that is highly visible, as it seen as a symbol of sanctuary by the 300,000 or so immigrants that Canada accepts annually from around the world.

The flag’s material is also eminently elastic, covering a country that is 7,560 kilometres wide, stretching across six time zones. Some would say a single flag shouldn’t be able to stretch over so much geography, and that it’s too much to expect compatability between regional cultures as disparate as joie de vivre Quebecers, besuited executives in Toronto, conservative ranchers in Alberta and the free spirits on the other side of the Rockies. Perhaps surprisingly, despite our differences, we all unite beneath the Maple Leaf.

To be flag-wavingly proud of one’s country, it’s not necessary to pretend all is sweetness and light. The Maple Leaf flies despite its country’s current challenges. The Canadian flag represents a nation that is still under construction, with growing pains that sometimes sound like groaning pains.

This federation is a work in progress that includes much-needed reconciliation between Canada and Indigenous peoples, a process in which the Canadian flag offers a marker of progress. When Canada got its own flag in 1965, ignorance about the effects of colonization was so prevelant that the country still operated residential schools designed to extinguish the culture and language of Indigenous children.

Fifty-seven years later, operating under the sovereignty of the same flag, governments and institutions have apologized and pledged remedies.

Recently, contentiously, the Canadian flag has been used as a symbol of rights and freedoms that are being vigorously contested during pandemic restrictions.

When the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force over a three-year period beginning in 1982, there was substantial discussion by government policy-makers and academics, but back then, average citizens without an abiding interest in constitutional law chose to leave the complicated charter issues to the experts.

That changed with the pandemic. Some Canadians, perceiving governments have suspended their freedoms, now have deeply personal reasons for an avid interest in legal liberties and rights violations.

Some people claim the freedom to ignore government mandates. Others insist their communities have the right to be protected from potential carriers of a highly transmittable virus. Some are angry that their right to health care is being usurped by people who refuse vaccinations but expect, and are afforded, triage priority for hospital beds.

Interestingly, on either side of the barricades that have sprung up in recent weeks, both the protesters and the counter-protesters have held fast to the Canadian flag. Perhaps that’s OK — the fabric of the flag should be able to stretch enough to cover a diversity of opinion while Canada works through its current strife.

The best place for the Canadian flag, however, is not on the grill of a big rig. It belongs atop a pole. That way everyone can look up to it as we aspire to be a country that is, as the anthem proclaims, glorious and free.