Peter Price: Like Canada, NZ will get used to its new flag

A selection of the 40 finalists for consideration as NZ's new national flag.

News of the ongoing process of choosing a new flag for New Zealand brings a wave of nostalgia for Canada's flag debate in the 1960s.

Canada's red and white maple leaf flag turned fifty years old this year, providing an occasion for Canadians to reflect on their flag and what it has come to represent in the half century of its existence.

For younger generations of Canadians in particular, the anniversary was largely a moment of historical trivia, an interesting look into a different era when the decision to abandon the British Ensign flag raised the ire of many and strangled the country in an unprecedented debate about the symbolism of national identity.

The Canadian flag, adopted in February 1965, is a distinct and visible emblem of the country today, but the decision to raise it in place of the old Red Ensign caused a national controversy and an often acrimonious debate that may sound somewhat familiar to New Zealanders today.

For over a year, the question of adopting a new flag dominated national attention and dominated debates in Parliament. It was far from a moment of patriotic outpouring. The proposition of erasing the British Union flag from the national flag prompted heated exchanges and much anger.

There was a stunning moment when Canadian military veterans booed the Prime Minister during his speech on the flag. Two Canadian provinces even adopted their own provincial versions of the old Canadian flag as a way of protesting the creation of a new flag. When the new flag was finally adopted and raised for the first time, the Leader of the Opposition was reported to have shed tears at the sight.

It seemed like the debate about adopting a new and distinctive Canadian flag was causing more harm than good, essentially splintering the country apart rather than unifying it.
It certainly did not seem like a particularly auspicious or patriotic beginning to a new national flag.

That was fifty years ago, and it all seems so distant now. The maple leaf flag has become a normalized and celebrated symbol, a part of everyday nationalism. Yet, as its recent anniversary reminds us, it is a celebrated symbol today not because of a popular push for it, but because we just got used to it.

There are many differences between the Canadian flag debate of the 1960s and the current debate about the New Zealand flag. The fact that New Zealanders are going to vote on it in a referendum is the starkest difference; in the case of Canada, the flag was chosen by Parliament. The extent to which Maori identity is included in many proposals far exceeds the inclusion of indigenous identity in discussions of the Canadian flag.

But despite these differences, what stands out is the extraordinary way that the subject of a national flag can ripple through public consciousness, taking a central place on the public agenda and eliciting a vigorous and often heated debate. If the recent milestone anniversary of the Canadian flag can teach any lesson, it's that however contested the selection of a national flag may be, it eventually becomes an accepted and normal part of national identity.

The debates, the alternative designs, the political arguments, and the public attention will eventually become a historical curiosity as future generations look back on the "old flag." For them, it might be hard to imagine a time when the New Zealand flag was the centre of a national debate.

Dr. Peter Price is an historian who teaches at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

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