That Other Red Ensign
And speaking of flags, there's that other Red Ensign, the flag of Ontario. (And no, I haven't forgotten Manitoba, either). When looking through the history of Canadian flags, I was struck by the old Royal Union Flag, which is your Union Jack without the the red diagonal cross of St Patrick, added after the Act of Union in 1801. You can still see it flying at such places as Old Fort York in Toronto. The old Royal Union, of course, is also a symbol of the United Empire Loyalists, who fled to Ontario in 1784, thus forever depriving the Yankees of their best talent.
My thought is to replace the Union Jack in Ontario's ensign with the old Royal Union, thus providing a nod to the Loyalists, while keeping intact the intention of having the Union Jack in the canton.
Though, God help me, aggravating the Irish is the last thing I want to do.
My thought is to replace the Union Jack in Ontario's ensign with the old Royal Union, thus providing a nod to the Loyalists, while keeping intact the intention of having the Union Jack in the canton.
Though, God help me, aggravating the Irish is the last thing I want to do.
posted by Michael at 11:38 a.m.|
2 Comments:
I've thought about that idea, too, and I think it's a darned good one.
David Frum wrote an interesting piece about the Loyalist Flag in his NRO diary.
Would the Irish be offended? I mean, didn't the majority of them want to be done with the UK anyway?
Hell, I was thinking about the Irish here in Ontario, specifically my neighbours who are descended from the Peter Robinson emigrants who homesteaded in Peterborough County around 1830. In a bar-fight, you'd want one or two of them at your back; unfortunately, the converse is true also.
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