National Flag and Emblems
Coat of arms
Emblems
Flag
Motto
Granted by a Royal Warrant of Queen Victoria on May 26, 1868,
the coat of arms was revised by the Québec government on December
9, 1939 in order to [TRANSLATION] “make it truer to the history and
heraldic data of the province”. In modern terms, the coat of arms
can be described as follows : Divided into three horizontal
fields, the first bearing three fleurs-de-lis on a blue background,
the second a blue-tongued, blue-clawed gold leopard on a red
background, and the third, three green maple leaves, gold-veined,
on a gold background, the whole surmounted by the royal crown and
accompanied underneath by a silver scroll bearing the motto in blue
letters.
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The national emblem
Adopted by the National Assembly in November 1999, the Act
respecting the flag and emblems of Québec decrees that the
Québec flag is the national emblem.
Floral emblem
The blue flag (Iris versicolor Linné) is the new floral
emblem of Québec. The blue flag is an indigenous spring flower that
grows on over half of Québec's territory, from the St. Lawrence
Valley to the shores of James Bay. The heraldic fleur-de-lis on the
Québec flag was long considered the floral emblem of Québec.
Avian emblem
The snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca), which nests in the
tundra in northern Québec, is the province's avian emblem. Unlike
other owls, it hunts both day and night during the Arctic summer
and lives mainly on lemmings. Black stripes and spots dot the
plumage of young birds, while old males may be snowy white.
The National Assembly chose the snowy owl as Québec's official
avian emblem in 1987. In doing so, it took part in a major national
movement to enhance the quality of the environment and save wild
species.
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Official tree
The Québec government chose the yellow birch (Betula
alleghaniensis Britton) as the official tree of Québec to
underscore the importance of the forest to Quebecers. A worthy
representative of the southern forest and balsam fir-yellow birch
stand, the yellow birch is an economic, social and cultural symbol.
It is not only one of the best-known noble species in Québec, it is
also noteworthy for the variety of ways in which it can be used and
for its high commercial value. From the early days of the colony to
present-day Québec, the yellow birch has always been a part of
Quebecers' daily lives. It is used to make furniture and is much
admired for its orange-yellow leaves in the fall. The choice of the
yellow birch as Québec's official tree constitutes recognition of
the importance attached to management of the southern forest, which
covers a large portion of the inhabited part of Québec and is
highly productive.
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Act respecting the flag and emblems of Québec
In November 1999, the Québec National Assembly adopted the
Act respecting the flag and emblems of Québec and decreed
that the Québec flag is the national emblem.
January 21st is flag day.
To learn more...
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The fleurdelisé flag
by Claude Paulette*
More than fifty years ago, on January 21st, 1948 at 3
p.m., the fleurdelisé flag replaced the Union Jack on the tower of
the Parliament Building in Québec City. Through an order of the
Lieutenant-Governor in Council adopted that very morning, Prime
Minister Maurice Duplessis' government had made the flag Québec's
official emblem.
While the flag is fairly recent, it has a lengthy lineage.
Designed in 1902, based on a banner discovered in 1848, which in
turn commemorated a battle exploit in 1758, it evokes the lilies of
the kings of France, which appeared around the year 1000.
It was under Louis VII, who reigned from 1137 to 1180, that the
fleur-de-lis, which had been used for a long time on royal seals,
decorated the azure banner. Carried by an equerry, the banner
preceded the king everywhere. The king alone could display it.
In its oldest form, the royal ensign was twice as long as it was
wide. Charles V, crowned in 1364, reduced to three the number of
fleurs-de-lis on the banner that accompanied into battle all of the
French kings up to Henri IV (1589-1610).
On July 24th, 1534, Jacques Cartier planted a cross
in Gaspé bearing the royal coat of arms with fleurs-de-lis.
However, on his ship floated the national flag of France, which was
red with a white cross.
The red was that of the oriflamme of Saint Denis. The cross was
a reminder of the one that foot soldiers attached to their tunics
so that they would recognize each other when they set out on the
third Crusade in 1188. The habit was maintained until the
establishment of a regular army, which displayed the cross on its
flag in 1479.
In Cartier's time, a new flag, which was blue with a white
cross, was competing with the red flag. The new flag flew from
Champlain's ship as it sailed up the Saint Lawrence River for the
first time in 1603, bringing the colours of France to North
America. At that time the explorer was employed by a company of
merchants. A 1643 treatise on hydrography confirmed that merchant
ships must carry a blue flag with a white cross, the former flag of
the French nation.
The king's fleet was already flying the all-white flag.
The white flag appeared in New France with the first of the
king's soldiers in 1665. It was then flown over towns and trading
posts throughout France's immense domain in North America. However,
the flag bearing the great coats of arms of France was never used
officially.
A number of explorers, including the La Vérendrye brothers,
wishing to make a greater impression, had painted the coat of arms
of the king of France on the white flag they unfurled during their
solemn entrances into the settlements of the indigenous
peoples.
In 1832, committees of Patriotes, perhaps inspired by the French
flag, created the green, white and red flag of Lower Canada, which
immediately gained public favour. In 1834, the Société
Saint-Jean-Baptiste, which adopted the flag, was established in
Montréal.
The flag was often decorated with other typical emblems of the
country, notably the beaver, maple leaves and the muskellunge. Its
presence during the battles of 1837 and 1838 gave it a
revolutionary character, which completely discredited it in the
eyes of the English and led to its abandonment in 1842.
The display at the June 24th, 1848 parade in Québec
City of a large "flag" measuring 203 cm x 307 cm, said to have
accompanied Montcalm's army at the victory in Carillon (now
Ticonderoga, NY) in 1758, caused excitement.
Its shape and the image of the Virgin indicate that it was a
religious banner. The coat of arms of the Marquis de Beauharnois,
governor of New France, suggests that it originated between 1727
and 1732.
It is, nonetheless, the direct predecessor of the Québec flag.
The banner is displayed in the Musée de l'Amérique française in
Québec City.
In 1854, France and Great Britain joined forces against Russia
in the Crimean War. To the astonishment of Canadians, the English
in Montréal and Québec City raised the Tricolour everywhere. The
following year, a French ship sailed up the Saint Lawrence River
for the first time since 1760. La Capricieuse, a corvette, entered
the port of Québec City to the cheers of a huge crowd, thus
re-establishing links between France and French Canadians, who
adopted the Tricolour.
It served as the flag of all French-speaking Canadians and
Americans until the early 20th century.
At the beginning of the century, numerous proposals for a flag
competed with the French Tricolour. Catholics wanted to return to
the white flag of the France of old and decorate it with the Sacred
Heart, to which Pope Leo XIII had just dedicated humanity. Others
added to the Tricolour a maple leaf or even the Sacred Heart.
Frédéric-Alexandre Baillairgé, the parish priest in
Saint-Hubert, proposed a blue flag strewn with fleurs-de-lis argent
and bearing in the centre Québec's coat of arms, a beaver and maple
leaves. He sold the flags for $6 each.
On September 26th, 1902, the parish priest from
Saint-Jude, near Saint-Hyacinthe, raised on his presbytery a banner
that he called the "Carillon". Elphège Filiatrault borrowed from
the banner of the same name its fleurs-de-lis pointing toward the
centre and its colour, thought to be sky blue. The white cross is
the same as the cross found on the old ensigns of the French army.
The flag was greeted enthusiastically. The original of this version
of the fleurdelisé flag is preserved in the archives of the
Saint-Hyacinthe seminary.
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On March 24th, 1903 in Québec City, a flag committee
adopted the "Carillon" bearing in its centre the Sacred Heart as
the national emblem of French Canadians. Four days later, the
Montréal committee adopted the same flag, followed by the committee
in Saint Boniface, Manitoba. A promotional campaign was launched,
although response was not unanimous. A number of people, including
the inventor of the Carillon, deplored the mingling of the homeland
and religion. However, the flag continued to gain favour.
In 1926, a statute of the legislative assembly made the flag the
emblem of the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Québec City.
Immediately after World War II, the campaign in favour of a
fleurdelisé flag was revived, but without the Sacred Heart.
Canada's choice in 1946 of the Red Ensign was poorly received in
Québec. The following year, René Chaloult, an independent member of
the legislative assembly, demanded a flag that reflected Quebecers'
aspirations. The government avoided taking a stand and Mr. Chaloult
submitted a resolution that was to be debated on January
21st, 1948.
When the session began at 3 p.m., Prime Minister Maurice
Duplessis made debate pointless by announcing that the fleurdelisé
flag was already flying on the tower of the Parliament
Building.
In heraldic language, the Québec flag is described thus :
"Azure a cross between 4 fleurs-de-lis argent", i.e. on a blue
background, a white cross surrounded by four fleurs-de-lis of the
same colour.
The order of the Lieutenant-Governor in Council of January
21st, 1948, which adopted the official flag of Québec,
specified that the fleurs-de-lis be placed in a vertical position,
an arrangement more in keeping with the rules of heraldry. It was
not until March 9th, 1950 that the legislative assembly
gave its approval by adopting the Act respecting the official flag
(R.S.Q. 1964, Ch. 2, Vol. 1).
* Claude Paulette, in celebration of the
fiftieth anniversary of the Québec flag, penned the brochure "Le
Fleurdelisé" published by the Commission de la capitale nationale
du Québec and Les Publications du Québec.
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The motto of Québec has appeared officially at the bottom of
Québec's coat of arms since 1939, but was in use as far back as
1883, the product of the imagination and the initiative of the
designer of the Parliament Building.
Eugène-Étienne Taché intended to place the province's coat of
arms above the main door of the Parliament Building, and to
inscribe under it a motto of his own : "Je me souviens" (I
remember). He prepared his plans accordingly, and they were
appended to the building contract signed on February
9th, 1883 under an executive order-in-council dated
January 22nd of the same year. The Québec government
thereby "ratified" the motto created by Eugène-Étienne Taché.
The coat of arms above the main door of the Parliament Building
is, however, not the one designed by Taché. The base of the main
tower underwent major repairs in the early 1960s, and the coat of
arms that had been there since the façade was built, in the
mid-1880s, was unfortunately replaced with the coat of arms in use
since 1939.
What does the motto "Je me souviens" mean? Several authors have
sought the true import of what is perhaps too simple a
sentence.
André Duval read it as the response of a French-Canadian subject
to the motto of the Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada,
which can be seen in the hall of the Parliament Building : "Ne
obliviscaris" (Be careful not to forget). Conrad Laforte believed
that Taché was inspired by the Canadien errant of Antoine
Gérin-Lajoie: "Va, dis à mes amis/Que je me souviens d'eux" (Go
tell my friends/That I remember them). These recent interpretations
(1970) seem to have nothing in common with those that were current
at the turn of the century among the contemporaries of the creator
of the motto and that were more likely to have fuelled his
thoughts, unfortunately never put down on paper.
Judge Jetté, in a speech in 1890, evoked the feeling of
Canadians when the French flag reappeared on the river in
1855 : "Oui, je me souviens, ce sont nos gens" (Yes, I
remember, these are our people). According to Pierre-Georges Roy,
this motto reflects "clearly the past, the present and the future
of the only French province in the Canadian Confederation". The
opinion of Ernest Gagnon also deserves consideration, for he was
the secretary of the Department of Public Works at the time and
knew Taché well. In an appendix to the Department's annual report,
Gagnon wrote that the motto admirably summarized "la raison d'être
du Canada de Champlain et de Maisonneuve comme province distincte
dans la Confédération" (the raison d'être of the Canada of
Champlain and Maisonneuve as a distinct province in the
Confederation).
Gagnon's interpretation is probably very close to Taché's
intentions. In designing the decoration of the Parliament Building,
Taché wanted to render homage to the men and women who marked the
history of Québec. There is probably no need to delve deeper into
the matter. This entire building is a monument dedicated to the
history of Québec and, through the motto, Taché sought simply to
express in a few words what he planned to immortalize in stone,
wood and bronze.
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