Proposed Flag for Anglo-Quebec
                              by Ben Koorengevel

Québec holds the distinction in Canada as being its sole province where the majority of the population is French speaking.

While French-Canadians (Francophones) are minorities outside Québec, they have held fast to preserving their language, history, culture and communities in each of Canada’s provinces & territories.  Every one of Canada’s Francophone communities outside Québec has adopted its own flag (Nunavut being the exception). Their flag designs are reflective of the province or territory they live in, but also incorporate distinctive French emblems that are usually in the form of a fleur-de-lis or the French Tricolore (blue-white-red).

  
Example Flags of French Canadian Communities. From right to left: Franco-Ontariens in Ontario, Franco-Terreneuviens in Newfoundland, Franco-Ténois in the Northwest Territories.

While minority francophone communities outside Québec have their own flag designs, there is one significant linguistic minority community that has yet to adopt one in Canada, that being the English speaking population of Québec.

English speaking Quebeckers (also referred to as Anglophones or Anglo-Quebeckers) have lived together with their French counterparts in the province for close to 250 years. They make up approximately 10% of the provincial population. Throughout those years, Anglo-Quebeckers have adjusted to living with the French majority, have incorporated French words into their everyday English vocabulary and adapted French cultural traits into their community.

The Québec government has taken many steps over the years to preserve and reinforce French language in the province. While most Anglo-Quebeckers support the preservation of the French fact in North America through reasonable measures, they have found themselves under threat of losing their own language and culture in the province. Because of this, the community has developed the same close regional ties that Francophone communities have in Canada’s other regions.

To design and propose a distinctive flag for Anglo-Quebec, this author (an Anglo-Quebecker himself) decided that it must be reflective of the province but re-enforced with English speaking symbolism. The flag of Montréal was looked upon for inspiration as the majority of Anglo-Quebeckers live in this city. Montréal’s quartered flag displays a fleur-de-lis for its majority French, a rose for the English, a shamrock for the Irish, and a thistle for the Scottish. Each symbol is traditional heraldic icon of the four groups.

     Montréal

      Québec

      Anglo-Quebec (first draft design)

The first design I created combined the blue & white cross design of Québec with the heraldic symbols from the city of Montréal. A maple leaf was added in the center of the flag to represent the close federalist ties the community has with the rest of Canada.

Upon further reflection, the design seemed cluttered and not notably distinguishable. I also tinkered with other designs that meshed English, French and Canadian symbolism together.

            
                     Other draft designs for an Anglo-Quebec flag

In my final proposal, the blue and white elements from the Québec flag were kept. Instead of a white cross, a white horizontal line angling midway down was added on a blue background. The line represents the shape of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, a major geographic feature of the province. In the hoist area, four heraldic symbols are charged together, representing the heritage of Québec’s four major English speaking groups (including a lily for the Welsh who were omitted from Montréal’s flag). The flag’s proportions are 1:2, the same as the Canadian flag.

The above text was submitted to the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) for possible publication in NAVA NEWS. By writing this article and posting it on the web, my hope is that it will give rise to discussion of the eventual adoption of an Anglo-Quebec flag by its leaders, a flag to which the community can rally by.

Ben Koorengevel - October, 2003

Variation on Proposed Anglo-Quebec Flag
 

Anglo-Quebec Flag graphics and text by: Ben Koorengevel

All other flag graphics have been taken from http://www.fotw.net .
(Credit for these graphics are given on the site)

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