The Final Say
Toronto Sun ^ | 2006-04-09 | Peter Worthington

The letter from Oakville Grade 8 student Devin Castilloux, 13, arrived towards the end of March.

In it, he recounted how he was in the Air Cadets, and how his father had taken him some time ago to Sunnybrook Hospital where he interviewed veterans from WWII and Korea. He even met one of the last surviving WWI vets.

Devin began collecting signatures of vets on a Canadian flag which he hoped would be flown in Ottawa on Remembrance Day. A letter from Scott Brison, then a Liberal cabinet minister, warned him that writing on a Canadian flag was not allowed. So Devin got a big white flag and hopes to get 800 signatures by this Nov. 11.

What struck me as significant �?apart from a kid being so interested in those who served in past wars �?was that Devin knew all about the battle of Vimy Ridge, which took place 89 years ago today.

It was the battle that forged a nation. For the first time in WWI, the four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought as one �?and captured the supposedly impregnable position that both the British and French, separately, had failed disastrously to take. Vimy was also the first offensive victory for the Allies in WWI.

At Vimy, the 5th Saskatchewan Battalion went into battle carrying the Red Ensign which, until 1965, was recognized as Canada’s flag. After the war, Lt. Col. Lorne Tudor, CO of the 5th Saskatchewans, donated the flag to the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London, as there was no Canadian war museum at that time.

Over the years, the Imperial War Museum vigorously guarded that Ensign, refusing to give or loan it to Canada until the new Canadian War Museum was opened in Ottawa. Even now, it is officially on “loan�?to Canada.

Young Devin Castilloux thinks the battle-worn Ensign should remain in Canada �?a significant reminder of our heritage and what Canadian soldiers accomplished on April 9, 1917.

I agree, and doubtless Joe Geurts, Director and CEO of the CWM agrees as well. “It’s on loan to us until 2007, and we are hoping for an extension,�?says Geurts. “We have excellent relations with the IWM, and they’ve been very helpful.�?

Until WWI, British regiments carried the flag bearing their battle honours into the fray. In the wars against Napoleon, capturing the enemy’s “colours�?was a big deal �?just as having your colours captured was a calamity.

In WWI, the Canadians were apparently among the few who carried their colours into battle. The Vimy Ensign is one of the few battle flags that still exist.

Another Vimy flag is in a museum in Penticton, B.C., but isn’t as old as the 5th Saskatchewan’s flag, which dates back to 1868 �?believed to be the oldest Canadian flag in existence.

When he headed the Canadian war museum, historian Jack Granatstein said the Vimy Ensign was “of great historical value to Canada and ought to be in Canada’s war museum.�?That’s where it is now, and Joe Geurts�?comments indicate he is hoping the Brits will make it a permanent loan.

Some 3,500 Canadians were killed at Vimy �?modest casualties by WWI standards. Had the Allies been prepared, Vimy was the breakthrough they’d fought three years for. But High Command expected a Canadian defeat.

After Vimy, Canadians were recognized as the elite troops of the war, with Gen. Arthur Currie arguably the most able commander on the Allies�?side.

British-born Victoria Cross winner George Pearkes (later a lieutenant governor of B.C.) was one who said “I became a Canadian on Vimy Ridge.�?My father, who won a Military Medal (MM) and bar at Vimy, was another who never felt he was a full Canadian before Vimy, and never felt he was anything but a Canadian after Vimy. That was a prevailing sentiment among many who fought there.

A flag is just a symbol, but the Ensign that flew atop Vimy Ridge is part of our legacy, and important to kids like Devin Castilloux who take pride in what those who came before them achieved in Canada’s name.

The Red Ensign was the Canadian de facto national flag from 1924 to 1965.  It was also the flag of Canadian merchant vessels from 1892 onwards.  Adopted as the flag of the Canadian Confederation in 1867 and used on land and sea until 1904.  Federal buildings flew the Union Jack until 1945, but it was common to see the Red Ensign flown alongside the Union Jack.  In 1924 when the badge was changed from the coats of arms of the seven provinces in the Canadian Confederation to the Canadian coat of arms.  It was displayed on Canadian buildings overseas from 1924 onwards and from 1945 onwards on federal buildings within Canada.  The Red Ensign was superseded by the Maple Leaf Flag on 15 February 1965.  

The Blue Ensign was the battle colour of the Royal Canadian Navy.  From 1910 to 1922, the badge bore the coats of arms of Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland, and Newbrunswick.  From 1922 to 1965 the Blue Ensign's badge was changed to the Canadian coat of arms and was essentially as seen here, except that in 1957 the colours of the three maple leaves at the bottom of Canadian coat of arms were changed from green to red (red and white are the livery colours of Canada).

The other flag commonly seen on along with the Red Ensign was the Union Jack.  Within Canada, the Union Jack was flown on federal buildings from 1924 to 1945, while the Red Ensign was flown overseas and on merchant vessels.  The Red Ensign and Union Jack were often flown together on non-public buildings.

[Notes and illustrations by MG]