Although the rules were drawn up long after Canada settled upon its ... to two or three basic colours. The flag that preceded the Maple Leaf, the Red Ensign, broke this rule with abandon.

It was on Feb. 15, 1965 that our flag was officially inaugurated in a public ceremony on Parliament Hill with these words from Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson: “May the land over which this new flag ...

Since Confederation, the Canadian national flag had been the British Union Jack - a symbol of Canada's former colonial status. The Red Ensign - a modified version of the flag of the British ...