Quebec
Today's Flag
is the Fleurdelisé (French: "with the fleur-de-lis.") From the 1500's, a common sight in New France was the Royal Banner, a blue flag with three gold fleurs-de-lis. In the age of sailing ships, the French merchant fleet flag of blue with a white cross would also have been recognizable. Many organizations have proposed and adopted different flags, such as the horizontal red-white-green of Les Patriotes or the French Tricolour defaced by the Star of Mary by the Acadians, however none became as popular as the creation of Elphège Filiatrault, whose research developed the "Carillon-Sacré-Coeur," a flag inspired by the banner flown by General Montcalm's forces during their victory over the British at Fort Carillon in 1758. It consisted of a blue flag, divided by a white cross, with the emblem of the Sacred Heart centred, and four golden fleurs-de-lis angled diagonally towards the centre, from each of the four corners. Having used the British Royal Union flag since 1758, by 1940 several strong movements had gathered enough momentum to bring the issue of a Quebec flag to the forefront in the legislature. On 21 January 1948, Premier Maurice Duplessis publicly announced that Quebec was to have a new flag, consisting of the Carillon flag without the Sacred Heart in the centre. Further research by the provincial government led to the fleurs-de-lis being turned up vertical in each corner and recoloured white in order to comply with basic rules of heraldry, which led to the present flag of Quebec that was made available on 2 February 1948 and officially adopted on 9 March 1950. During celebrations for the 65th anniversary of the adoption of the flag in 2013, Premier Pauline Marois declared that 21 January would be observed annually as the official Flag Day of Quebec.
Today's Flag: ©1989-2024 DJ CLIFFORD, All Rights Reserved