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Canada's Four Corners
By: Jack Cook
How many Canadians have counted the number of points on the Canadian Maple Leaf Flag? How many Canadians counted the Flag's points when it first flew in 1965? Forty years later, how many Canadians count or even care for that matter?
The Canadian flag, or lack thereof; was an issue of national debate in the early 1960s. Internationally, the identification of the Canadian flag with the British led Egypt to refuse Canadian peacekeepers in the 1956 war over the Suez. While Prime Minister Lester Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his proposal to send a United Nations peacekeeping force to the area of the Suez Canal, Egypt's decision was a national humiliation he was determined to after. Lester Pearson promised the nation a Canadian flag within two years of his election in 1963.
Parliament debated the design of the new flag for many months. Finally, on Tuesday, December 15th, 1964, the Ottawa Citizen reported, "New flag born in turmoil" (Annex 1). Accompanying the story was a picture of a new Thirteen Point flag. The flag was held by members of Parliament seemingly happy that the debate was over. The Flag, adopted by Parliament and approved by Her Majesty, the Queen, had thirteen points on December 15, 1964, but within a month, was changed to eleven. Short of one month, actually eighteen days later, the Ottawa Citizen, dated January 2nd 1965, printed a short story and displayed an Eleven Point design entitled "The flag (final edition)" (Annex 2).
The new flag appeared to have pleased Prime Minister Lester Pearson who said that the eleven point design "combined simplicity of form with maximum identification at a distance".
In the meantime, a Canadian handicraft store which opened in May 1963 had in its possession a similar eleven point Maple Leaf design it used as a logo. The store had been using this red, Maple Leaf design in its advertisements, notepaper, invitation and Christmas cards since September 1963 (Annex 3). The design had been purchased and then copyrighted, with the first publication by the Copyright office dated October 5th, 1964 (Annex 4).
Having observed the change from thirteen points to eleven points in less than a month, and now matching the Craft Shop's Maple Leaf logo, an endeavor was made to actually learn who drew the government's thirteen point flag design and who subsequently amended it. The answer did not surface until the publication of an article in the Ottawa Citizen, thirty years later (Annex 5).
The article, published on Tuesday, September 26, 1995, appeared in the "Opinions" section of the Ottawa Citizen under the title, "Canada's flag was created in a flap". The author, Patrick Reid, wrote in this article that Jacques Saint-Cyr designed a thirteen point maple leaf in 1961 for the Canadian Trade Exhibition in Europe. The design, however, was not accepted.
Following the rejection of this thirteen point maple leaf design, Mrs. Peter Barrett, an employee, asked and received permission to have the design. She brought the design to Canada and asked the Canadian Craft Shop, "Canada's Four Corners", if it could merchandise the design on Hasti notes and Christmas cards. This was agreed. This was the same eleven point Maple Leaf that was used, later purchased and copyrighted (Annex 4). As Mr. Barrett described it in his February 23, 1965 letter to me, "the background to the maple leaf design we gave you originated with our copying of a rejected design the Exhibition Commission gave to my wife in 1963 to make Christmas Cards" (emphasis added, JC) (Annex 6). The emphasis is made here to note that it was the number of points used to design the flag and not the rounded or pointed nature of the Maple Leaf that was at issue.
Written by staff reporter Ron Grantham and entitled, "City man suspects cabinet 'lifted' his flag design", a February 12, 1965 article expressed that "Jack Cook would like to know who made the final design" (Annex 7). It was Mr. Reid who telephoned me following this story in the Ottawa Citizen. Patrick Reid, who authored the article which appeared in the Ottawa Citizen thirty years later, was Director General of the Canadian Exhibition Commission in Europe in the 1960s. During the telephone conversation, Jack Cook asked the same question of Mr. Reid. Mr. Reid replied that the designer had drawn the design on a blank sheet of paper. The response was correct, but it took thirty years before the publication of a clear answer in the September 26th, 1995 article by Patrick Reid. In this article, he recalled suggesting the removal of two points to Jacques Saint-Cyr knowing that the first drawing in 1961 had thirteen points.
Soon after the release of the eleven point Maple Leaf, I mailed letters to all political leaders and party heads, seeking information regarding "the flag (final edition)" (Annex 8). Only polite acknowledgements were received. There was one exception, however. On February 2nd, 1965, Jean Miquelon, Deputy Registrar General Ottawa, responded that "the flag design approved by the Parliament of Canada was chosen by a Committee of the House of Commons sitting in camera. There is, therefore, no information here 11 concerning the source of the design chosen. It would appear, however, that the adoption by you of a design consisting of three maple leaves would not preclude the use of a single identical maple leaf by another party" (Annex 9).
Another comment was received from Dallas Taylor (Annex 10), then political analyst, who noted the "striking similarity and timing of the Cook and government designs - beyond coincidence". Many government staff, MPs and others, came to the store and purchased its materials. The chance that they would see the design was too great to be "beyond coincidence".
Dallas Taylor's comment of a "striking similarity" and timing of the two eleven point designs is positive when reading the article of Mr. Reid. Mr. Reid wrote, "Matheson [a member of the in camera committee] was in a wheel-chair that evening and we used the length of one of the halls of our building to show off the final 13-point design from a distance. We would scurry up and down, exchanging sketches and comments. There was something not quite right, and I could not put my finger on the problem precisely, except that it was around the stem of the leaf. I sensed unease in Jacques [Saint-Cyr] also. `Do you think maybe it's too busy at the base?' I asked the designer. "What would happen, for example, if you took away two of the four points?" Jacques was sure it would be an improvement. I told Matheson what was proposed. He had no objection except that time was running out. Jacques was already on a redesign, and an hour later we had a precise, 11-point, maple leaf.".
Obviously, Mrs. Peter Barrett felt the unease too, but much earlier, because the leaf design she presented for the Canadian Craft Store was eleven points. This leaf design had been in use since September 1963, purchased and assigned a copyright file number 106132 with the date of first publication on October 5th, 1964.
Finally, after thirty years, persistent enquiry and the Reid article answered the question about "Who" designed the thirteen point Maple Leaf and "Who" re-designed it. The "Why" was also known, as Dallas Taylor correctly stated, "'who would want to fly a thirteen point flag"?
Each ten years, at the anniversary of the Flag, new stories surface. For example in 1976, the October 12 edition of the Financial Times and the July edition of the Toronto Star asked, in an article by George Gamester, "Whatever became of Mr. George Stanley" referring to him as "the man who designed the Flag" (Annex 11). In this press item, Mr. Gamester asked, from the vantage point of the 2000 design, `does Stanley take a fatherly pride in the Flag?" Stanley is reported to have said "Oh, I take it for granted like most people now. But there are still times when I am in a meditative mood or I see it up there against a clear blue sky, that I feel a real emotional thrill".
This assertion was later refuted by Patrick Reid, who wrote that "whatever influences Dr. Stanley might have wielded in the events he most certainly was not the designer" (Annex 5).
Many dramatic media headlines have described the birth of the eleven point Canadian Flag. These include headlines such as "Born in a flap", "a little chaotic", "a hectic climax" and, attributed to George Stanley in the CBC's Sunday, May 25, 2003 broadcast on McLean's Vinyl Cafe, "...we just kicked off two of the points". Ron Grantham's 1965 headline, "City man suspects cabinet 'lifted' his flag design" added a quiet drama.
Thirty years later, Patrick Reid confirmed that Jacques Saint-Cyr removed two points from the thirteen point design. However, a thirteen point maple leaf was already in the hands of Parliament and approved by Her Majesty, the Queen. This might explain why, eighteen days later, the Ottawa Citizen published the eleven point design entitled "The flag (final edition)".
Prime Minister Lester Pearson, in a letter to Patrick Reid on February 28, 1965, wrote, "I am aware of the assistance the commission gave in refining the design and preparing technical drawings for the new Canadian flag approved by Parliament. I think the final version is a magnificent tribute to your efforts, and I hope you will express my appreciation to Mr. Saint-Cyr...." (Annex 5)
One wonders why, twenty-five years later, Pierre Elliott Trudeau attributed the design to Judge Matheson and George Stanley. Mr. Stanley submitted two red bars, and the Maple Leaf which was rejected had 15 or more points. This was completely dissimilar to the Saint-Cyr design, whether thirteen points or eleven points, and the Craft Store's Maple Leaf logo. Judge Matheson had simply chaired the in-camera committee.
All this time, the Canadian craft store, Canada's Four Corners, exhibited their eleven point logo in advertisements, cards and an Exhibition at their two locations at 44 Bank Street and the Chateau Laurier (Annex 12). The in camera committee met in Ottawa at 180 Sparks Street in close proximity to both shop locations (Annex 13).
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