Colonel remembers controversy, haggling over the Maple Leaf

He is 88 now and not at all well. He lives alone in a small room in Kingston, confined to his wheelchair and under the care of a nurse who visits, but today Col. John Matheson will be taken down the street to city hall and honoured by the prime minister for what he'll forever be: The Father of the Canadian Flag.

"I don't like it when they call me that," says Matheson. "I simply chose the best ideas and concepts of many people. The Order of Canada emblem I did design and I'm writing a book on the history of the Order, but I'm nearly at the end of my life. I want to live long enough to finish it."

It was 40 years ago today that Canada, in its shucking of the British shackles, officially proclaimed the red-and-white Maple Leaf flag as the standard of the nation, replacing the Red Ensign which had replaced the Union Jack; Prime Minister Lester Pearson achieving what federal governments had twice before begun -- in 1925 and 1945 -- and lost their nerve.

Resolve and guts

But John Matheson, Liberal MP for Leeds, a decorated soldier from World War II whose leadership and resolve and guts were forged through some of the most savage battles, was driven to see it through this time after Pearson designated him to head the project because he was the only one in caucus with technical knowledge of heraldry.

"When I was nine years old at St. George's school in Quebec City, I won a prize for my essay on the Union Jack."

The great flag debate raged throughout the early winter, and summer and fall of 1964, consuming Canadians across the land who were asked to submit designs, and thousands did, with Progressive Conservative leader John Diefenbaker and his members in furious opposition to anything but the Red Ensign, and with the formidable support of the Royal Canadian Legion.

"It got ecclesiastical," says Matheson, "with clergy insisting a new flag should show the cross."

A "flag committee" was formed of seven Liberals, five PCs, one New Democrat, and one Social Crediter which would recommend to Parliament its choice, but it was the brilliant and persuasive Matheson who'd engineer the process, conceptualizing his choice from an array of designs.

As the designs came in, Pearson favoured one with blue borders at each end -- symbolizing the two oceans -- with a red maple leaf on a white background until Matheson pointed out that, by royal proclamation in 1921, King George V appointed Canada's colours as red and white.

Doodled designs

"He told me that as a child he loved singing The Red, White, and Blue, but I informed him it was American," says Matheson who, himself, was leaning towards red borders and three red maple leafs on a white field -- until he visited his friend Dr. George Stanley, dean of arts, at Royal Military College in Kingston.

Stanley pointed out the college's flag -- red borders with a gold-coloured, chain-mailed fist holding three green leaves beneath a crown on a white field. "He said, 'That should be your flag'," says Matheson. "I said 'Canadians won't go for the fist' and he said 'I mean with a maple leaf'."

Matheson liked it. He doodled designs on paper in the Commons. There are 16 different maple leafs, but Matheson chose the sugar maple tree leaf for its superior looks and its tree's history: The Indians, Habitants and United Empire Loyalists used its hard wood for furniture and fuel.

Matheson consulted with specialists on the proper red -- one between the lighter red of the Union Jack and darker red of the Star Spangled banner -- and had Jacques St. Cyr, an artist in the Department of Trade and Commerce, design the stylized red leaf with its 11 points.

'Flew wonderfully'

There was some committee negativism towards the design, but Matheson's recommendation prevailed, and it was approved on Dec. 15, 1964; two months later to the day, the new and official flag of our country.

Finally, I ask John Matheson to clear up one of the flag myths -- that the red leaf on the white field create the images of two men quarrelling face to face, that their names are Jack and Jacques, and that it's deliberate.

"No," says The Father of the Canadian Flag who would know. "Not at all."

As a steady rain fell Tuesday afternoon, William Brush once again lowered the Red Ensign from a Halifax flagpole and hoisted the now-familiar red and white Maple Leaf.

It marked 40 years to the day that the Canadian flag first flew on Parliament Hill - a moment Mr. Brush still remembers vividly.

"It was so emotional at the time, just the pride of being a Canadian, of having the symbol of being a Canadian," said Mr. Brush, the naval officer who replaced the Red Ensign with the then-controversial Canadian flag in Ottawa in 1965.

He was joined four decades later by a small crowd gathered around the flagpole at Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax, snapping pictures and singing O Canada as the Canadian flag was raised.

"It's been 40 years since I did it, but that was so much nicer than the first time," Mr. Brush said afterward. "It was extremely cold that February day that we did this in Ottawa. It was just terrible."

Mr. Brush, who has lived in Truro for the past 30 years, recalled he was originally in favour of a flag with blue borders on either side to represent Canada's shores, but was won over by the final version, designed by George Stanley.

Mr. Stanley's widow, Ruth, said Tuesday she even needed a bit of convincing that the Red Ensign needed to be replaced.

But she was soon won over by her husband's design of a stylized red maple leaf on a white square with red bars on either side.

"It showed beautifully against the snow, the grass, the water, the sky, the buildings," she said following Tuesday's re-enactment.

"It didn't matter what it was against: you could always see it."

She said the Canadian flag - which she describes as happy and cheerful with simple lines even children can draw - is unmistakable even at a great distance.

"Under all circumstances, even a black sky, it shows very well," she said.

In 1964, a specially struck Senate and House of Commons committee was left with three choices: a Red Ensign with the Union Jack and the shield of the arms of Canada; a flag favoured by then-prime minister Lester B. Pearson that incorporated three maple leaves and blue bars; and Mr. Stanley's design.

Mr. Stanley's design was approved by a resolution in both the House of Commons and the Senate in December 1964, and the resolution was proclaimed by the Queen on Feb. 15, 1965.

"My husband always said, 'Give it 20 years. You'll have a generation that won't know any other flag,' and it's true," Mrs. Stanley said. "It didn't take that long."