Fifty years ago today.

A little bit of music on this Thursday 6 November, Feast day of the creation of the Canadian Flag.
Some 50 years ago today on a stormy night in 1964 a young woman by the name of Joan O'Malley got a call from her father Ken Donovan telling her that he had just gotten a call from the Prime Minister's Office about the new Canadian Flag which was being debated in Parliament. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lester B.Pearson had promised the country during the election that if he became Prime Minister he would see to it that we would have a new Canadian Flag. Some 6,000 designs had been studied by various committees in Parliament. We were down to 3 prototypes and Joan's father who worked at the Exhibition Commission of the then Department of Trade and Commerce was told to get  the 3 prototypes ready for Saturday morning so they could be flown at Harrington Lake, the Country Estate of the Prime Minister outside Ottawa in the Gatineau Hills. The design under final consideration was the single Red Maple Leaf on a white background, was to be tried out to see if it would make it as a flag on a flagpole.

Joan was a young newlywed, seamstress so her father Ken got her to come down to his office with her Singer Sewing Machine to sow the prototypes together. It was not an easy task since the material was thick and difficult to sow together, she worked until almost midnight and got the job done. Her father then drove from his Government Office to 24 Sussex Drive to hand deliver the final product to the Prime Minister who was waiting. The new Canadian Flag was Proclaimed in February 1965.

Ken Donovan and his daughter Joan O'Malley did make history that night. Donovan was one of 100,000 home children (orphans) who were sent to Canada from Britain between 1860-1930. These children were indentured servants in Canada, he was one of the lucky ones, he became a senior Public  Servant in the Federal Government and coming to Canada gave him a better life. His daughter Joan says this is why my father was so excited about the flag because it represented opportunity for him and a new life.

This is Canada! 1534-1867-2014

I found this song listening to the CBC Ben Heppner's show on Opera. Heppner is a famous Canadian Tenor now retired. Here we hear Canadian Soprano Terasa Stratas sing This is Canada, the images are  of Canada 1960. Things have changed, you can see Toronto skyline at 01:35 not like today at all. The last image is of the Royal Yacht Britannia sailing on the St-Lawrence Seaway. The song is a bit corny but fun nonetheless.

Calixa Lavallée, musician, composer, maestro, world traveller. 

The composer of the Canadian National Anthem is Calixa Lavallée (1842-1891) I learned today that he immigrated to Rhode Island and served as a Union Soldier with the rank of Lieutenant in the American Civil War. He died in Boston. He was one of 60,000 French Canadians who fought on the side of the Yankees. His anthem as first was composed for the Société Nationale des Canadiens Français which then became the Société St-Jean Baptiste. What was once since as a Patriotic anthem for French Canada became shortly thereafter the National Anthem of Canada.



We have put up our Canadian Flag on the balcony, the same flag which has travelled the world with me for the last 40 years. I originally got it from Parliament from my Member of Parliament, back then you wrote to them and they would send you a flag.



Because this is the Centennial of the Great War 1914-1918, I post here the Old Flag, known as the Red Ensign, which was replaced in 1965 by the new Maple Leaf Flag.

Canadian Flag in 1914.

Canadian Flag 1929-1965

Happy Dominion of Canada Day to all Canadians wherever you may be on this July 1. 

National Day of Honour 9 May 2014

Today on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, we mark the end of the 12 year campaign in Afghanistan. An impressive military display and 700 men and women of the Armed Forces have gathered for this ceremony. We remember our 158 dead and thousands of injured and the 40,000 who participated in this long war.

Greetings and thanks where sent by our Sovereign Queen Elizabeth II and a Royal Proclamation was made by the Commander in Chief and Governor General the Right Honourable David Johnstone to mark this day.

H.E. The Governor General David Johnston in the Hall of Honour of Parliament.

Though we were told this mission was one of Peace Keeping it quickly became a war, the longest one fought by Canadians in a foreign land. We may well ask for what?  No one knowns what the future holds for Afghanistan and what benefit if any will come of this war. We can only hope for the best.

We can be proud of our soldiers who did their very best in often very difficult circumstances and thank them.

Afghanistan Service Medal worn by Canadian Soldiers

Canadian Soldier in Afghanistan saluting our Flag.

The last Canadian flag to have flown at Canadian HQ in Kabul, Afghanistan was brought back to Canada and a special baton was designed for it. A relay was organized from Canadian Forces Base Trenton to Ottawa. The team of runners were injured and handicap Canadian Armed Forces personnel. There was some political controversy as to whom would be receiving the baton on Parliament Hill. By right the Commander in Chief and Governor General should receive this flag from the veteran runners however the Prime Minister had managed to present himself as the recipient. At the last moment, with mounting protests from various Canadians, protocol was respected and the GG as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces received the flag which will now be displayed in the Hall of Honour of the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.   

Handicap and injured Canadian Forces Veterans carrying the Baton containing the last Canadian Flag