Provincial Flags I Have Known: A Rundown and Ranking

This post is the second installment on a topic that I never imagined that I would ever blog about: state flags.  Today we're going to cross the border and take a look at the provincial flags.

How It Started

I am on a quest to spend at least one night in every state and provincial capital.  Earlier this year I was starting to notice the different state flags when the Washington Post ran a story on the debate over the nipple on Virginia's state flag.  I took this as a sign to drop everything and write a round up of the flags for the states that I had visited so far. 

How It's Going

2025 was a boon year for Canada travel.  I spent one or more nights in five provinces: British Columbia, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Ontario.  Since I'm at the halfway point of my Canada quest, it's time to review what we've seen so far plus drop a few facts about the Canadian flag.

Here are the flags from the provinces that I spent the night in so far, in order visited.

British Columbia

BC is the western most province in Canada, and their flag proudly claims their spot.  Union Jack on top, since that's where we came from, and then the waves of the Pacific and the setting sun.

Nova Scotia

To make sense of Nova Scotia's flag, we need to do some translating.  What does "Nova Scotia" mean anyway?

Nova = New
Scotia = Scotland

Huh.  What does Scotland's flag look like?

Source

Case closed!  The ensign in the middle of the cross is the coat of Arms of Scotland.

We will be ranking the flags, so here is an extra credit item for NS.  I saw this rendition of the flag pretty frequently in my NS roamings.

Prince Edward Island

I failed to get a good picture of the PEI flag on my travels, which is 100% on me.  The flag is very prominently displayed all over the island.  The best image that I have is the pins that they gave me when I visited the legislature.

Let's have Wikipedia fill the void:

Source

The lion is a symbol of England, and this particular one is from the family crest of George Coles, who was the first premiere of PEI.  The big tree is England, and the three little trees are the counties of PEI: Kings County, Queens County, and Prince County.  The meaning is that the little acorns did not fall far from the big tree.

New Brunswick

We have a lion on top, which represents both England and the Duchy of Brunswick.  The rest of the flag is a big ship, which represents the biggest industry in NB at the time.

Ontario

The Ontario flag was formally adopted in 1965 after the big maple leaf was chosen as Canada's flag.  The design is very close to the previous Canada flag.  The shield with the three maple leaves is Ontario's coat of arms.

Let's Rate 'Em!

We're going to use the same criteria that we used for US state flags to assess the provincial flags:

• Does the flag have a nipple?
• Was the flag noticeable when I visited?
• Is there something about the flag that makes me say "whoa"?
• Do I like the flag?

British Columbia: no, yes, yes, yes

Nova Scotia: no, yes, yes, yes

Prince Edward Island: no, yes, yes, yes

New Brunswick: no, no, no, no

Ontario: no, no, yes, yes

The Official Birchwood Provincial Flag Rankings Are:

1. British Columbia: c'mon, it's not even a competition.  The BC flag depicts the province's location and importance in the country.
2. Nova Scotia: it's a very close tie with the #3 spot, but the elegance of the design and the lawn ornament give New Scotland the edge.
3. Prince Edward Island.  Same comment as BC, the design says everything about PEI's origin.  The independent spirit of this small island very nearly won it the #2 spot, but NS is just a little sleeker.
4. Ontario.  I kind of like the decision to adopt the "sloppy seconds" of the previous national flag.
5. New Brunswick.  Same comment as BC, the last place winner wasn't even a competition.

Bonus Round: Let's Talk About the Maple Leaf

What could there possibly be to say about Canada's flag?  It's a big leaf.

Not so fast!

The US flag is a big deal because we decided that we didn't want to be under British rule and we had a revolution.  Canada never did that, they just grew to be so big that the UK needed the Canadian colonies to unite and maintain a strong military presence so that they could deal with any trouble caused by their southern neighbor.  The original flag of Canada was the British flag because they were one and the same.  Take a look at this WWII recruiting poster that is on display in the Ontario legislature:

There were a few "unofficial" Canada flags over the years.  The Red Ensign was the most prominent.  You can tell it's Canada because of the maple leaves.

The "we're Britain but not really" method worked until the World Wars.  Canada's military contribution needed to be recognized, and they needed a flag that was easily distinguishable from the British flag on the battlefield.  Coming up with a new flag for a large country was a very politically charged topic, and it wasn't until the 60s that everyone was ready to get down to business and make it happen.  

These photos are from a display at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Quebec (within walking distance of downtown Ottawa).

School kids were asked to submit designs.

In 1965 the Big Maple Leaf was chosen.  But there is a little more to it than that.  There are 10 species of maple trees that are native to the area, which are represented in the carpet in the senate chamber.  So the question is: which one of the 10 species is the Big Leaf?

If you answered all of the above, you are correct!  The Big Leaf is a composite of the 10 species.

What is your favorite and least favorite of the provincial flags?  How many of these provinces have you visited?  Did you know the story behind the Canadian flag?

Give me a few more years to visit the remaining five provinces and we'll close out the provincial flag series.