Canadian Flag & Provinces

The Flag of Canada is also referred to as the Maple Leaf. The Canadian flag is a red flag and has a white square at the center with a maple leaf in the middle. In 1965 the flag of Canada was adopted marking the replacement of the Union Flag with its own. While the Canadian flag is the official flag of Canada, Canada holds the Union flag, the national flag in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, with semi-official status.

February 15th is celebrated as National Flag of Canada Day since February 15, 1965 marked the day that the flag was introduced. Prior to the introduction of the current Canadian flag, the Union Flag was the Red Ensign on the Canadian flag since the 1890s and was approved by a 1945 Order-in-Council.

Canada has a rich history of many different flags used by different parts of its government and military. The majority of the flags used by the government and military contain the maple leaf as part of its design in the canton.

Canada flies the Royal Union Flag as an official flag in Canada as a symbol of Canada's membership in the Commonwealth of Nations, and its allegiance to the Crown of England.

The length of the Maple Leaf in the Canadian flag is twice the width. The white area in the flag is a pale white, a central square band in a vertical triband flag, with the bordering red field half the size of the white area.

The maple leaf celebrates the nature and environment of Canada. The design of the maple leaf was chosen after wind tunnel tests demonstrated the current design to be the most clear under wind conditions.