Madam Speaker, I think the previous speaker has missed the whole point of this debate. The bottom line is that the flag is not about pigment, about cloth. It is about the symbol of our nation. The flag is Canada. For that reason, I will not get into discussing some of the issues he raised in his speech.
I thank the member for Carleton-Charlotte for bringing this matter to our attention. The people of Durham have been very supportive of the fly the flag campaign. Indeed, over 7,000 flags have been distributed to the people of Durham.
When the member for Carleton-Charlotte was talking about his own speaking engagements in his riding, I got to thinking about my wife and myself. We have two cars on the road in the riding. We both have Canadian flags in the back of them. They are paper flags. Every time we go to an event, we make sure that all the kids have paper flags. It is a tremendous thing to go to Santa Claus parades and so forth and to be talking to people in a sea of Canadian flags. It makes me feel very proud to be part of this country, to know people love their country in that fashion.
I was most interested in the comments from the member for Bellechasse. These are some of the problems of our country. We do not really think of how far back in history it was that this nation was made. It does not just go back to 1948; it goes back much further than that.
Symbolism is a nation's struggle to define itself as a country. The member is quite right. From the time of Confederation in 1867 to 1965, Canada never really had a flag. We had many things that we called flags. The Cross of St. George flew on Labrador in 1749. The Fleur de Lys was accepted as a Canadian flag. There was the Union Jack and later the Red Ensign, but none of them were officially designated as a flag of Canada.
The French and the English have a common history in Canada. It was John Cabot that flew that flag of St. George on our eastern shores in 1497. It was Jacques Cartier that rose the Fleur de Lys in the Gaspé in 1534.
The Fleur de Lys interestingly enough is also a flag of another sovereign. The Fleur de Lys in reality is a monarchial symbol from France. It was a symbol of colonialism, no different from the Union Jack. That is why I question why the Fleur de Lys could possibly be the flag of another nation when by definition it is a colonial symbol.
The Maple Leaf has been with our country for many, many years, from the time of the first settlers. It was the first settlers who recognized the strength of the maple as it represented a source of food and furniture. In other words it was a sustenance of their existence in a new world.
The emblem was used in the early 1700s and it was proper and very prominent on very early coinage of Canada. It was the emblem of the St. Jean Baptiste society in New France in 1834. It
was in 1863 that Principal Dawson of McGill University incited it as the emblem of the vitality and energy of a new country.
That symbol has been carried into two wars. People have shed their blood on the Maple Leaf. It is now a symbol that is recognized around the world as Canada, not French Canada and not English Canada. By the way, people did not ask if those who shed that blood were French or English, it was the blood of Canadians.
I have been proud to wear this symbol every day that I have been in this House of Commons and I am proud to wear it when I go around the world. I know other Canadians are as well, including those in the province of Quebec. Canadians and people worldwide recognize Canada as a country of tolerance, as a country of people who democratically work out their problems as we are doing in this House.
The Maple Leaf has been an excellent symbol of what Canada is. It is a growing vital country with deep roots and its roots continue to grow. Its roots will continue to grow, not only in the maritimes of John Cabot and the Quebec of Jacques Cartier, but throughout this dominion from sea to sea to sea. Its branches are similar. We have branched out not only within our country to connect the people of this country together, but we have been able to branch out to the world. The world recognizes the Maple Leaf as a symbol of tolerance.
In closing I would like to state how important it is for a nation to have symbols. This is the symbol of a united and strong country. It can easily be adapted and should be the symbol of all people of Canada including those in Quebec because they are very much an open society and that is basically the country we have tried to create here. The Maple Leaf is very much a symbol of French Canada as it is a symbol of English Canada.
I thank the member for Carleton-Charlotte for bringing this matter before the House. He can be assured that I and the people of Durham are very supportive of his intentions.