People & Culture
At a launch event for his new book, Flags of Canada, Harper called for renewed Canadian nationalism
On the same day that Stephen Harper joined four other living former Prime Ministers in urging Canadians to rally around our national flag in the face of threats and insults from U.S. President Donald Trump, he also took to the stage at the Royal Canadian Geographical Society to launch his new book, Flags of Canada.
Since Trump re-assumed the office of President in January, he has both threatened and implemented steep tariffs on Canadian goods and made troubling statements that appear intended to undermine Canadian sovereignty. During a question-and-answer period at the book launch, held at 50 Sussex, the Ottawa headquarters of the RCGS, Harper called on Canadians to embrace our shared history and identity and also suggested the country might need to take a temporary financial hit to ensure its survival. “There’s real risk here and I think there’s real opportunity as well,” he said. “I do think that if Trump were determined, he could do a lot of short-term economic damage, but I would accept that. I would accept any level of damage to preserve the independence of the country.”
The timely Flags of Canada, which Harper started writing during COVID-19 lockdown, is a comprehensive look at the many symbols and banners that have emerged through four centuries of Canadian history, culminating in the iconic maple leaf that was adopted as our national flag 60 years ago this month. The question on everyone’s minds at the Feb. 11 launch was how well it holds up in the face of unprecedented aggression from our closest neighbour, ally and trading partner.
“I’m obviously biased, but having attended world events as Prime Minister and seen our flag in context, I think it holds up extremely well,” said Harper, who spent about 45 minutes in conversation with RCGS CEO John Geiger before an audience of MPs, diplomats, parliamentary staff and Fellows. “It’s unique, it’s elegant, it has historical meaning, and with all deference to my fellow flag geek here, it’s a better flag than the Pearson Pennant.”
The Pearson Pennant — so called because it was the design favoured by then-Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson during the flag debate that raged during 1964 and into 1965 — featured three red maple leaves on a white background flanked by blue bars. (It was actually the design preferred by the conservative opposition of the day, too, but politics being what they are, neither party voted for it, and everyone’s second choice was unanimously approved.)
As surprising as it might sound to Canadians today, the flag debate was often heated, bringing up thorny questions about identity, belonging and memory, particularly for veterans who had fought under a particular flag, Harper said. He recalled taking an informal poll of his neighbours as a curious Kindergarten student. “I just cared about the colours and the symbols, but people exploded at me!”
Ultimately, every element of the current flag was carefully designed, from the width of the red and white bars to the shade of red used to the size and number of points on the central maple leaf. Coincidentally, an early version of the flag portrayed the leaf with 13 points, which would have taken on new meaning when Nunavut became a territory in 1999. But Parliament wanted the flag to be as bold and readable as possible, even from a distance, so the number of points was reduced.
Geiger echoed Harper’s call for Canadians to wave the flag. Trump is using economic pressure to challenge Canadian sovereignty, going so far as to suggest that without an imagined “massive subsidy” from the U.S., Canada “ceases to exist as a viable country” and would be better off as the 51st state.
“This should serve as a wake-up call for us all, not just those in government. We cannot leave it to politicians and government alone; we all have a stake in standing up for our country, for celebrating its achievements, and ‘recognizing it as a duty and a privilege to learn more about Canada,’” said Geiger, invoking the words of the Society’s founders. The Society was formed in 1929 specifically to bring Canadian ideas and accomplishments to the forefront in the face of encroaching American influence on our culture and institutions.
Young people today are simply not as patriotic as people who grew up in the 1960s, at the height of enthusiasm for Canada, said Harper. Millennials were raised in a world of open borders and free trade and Canadians have generally had little reason to be suspicious of America — until three weeks ago. “We have to do what we can to mobilize and get that sense [of Canadian nationalism] back,” he said.
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