English-speaking Quebecer - Symbols of English-speaking Quebec

Symbols of English-speaking Quebec

Jacques Viger, the first mayor of Montreal, created the city’s first coat of arms in 1833. The arms consisted of a red saltire surrounded by heraldic symbols to represent the cultural makeup of the municipality at the time. While a beaver represented the French community, he added a Rose to represent those of English descent, a Shamrock for the Irish and a Thistle for the Scottish. Current and former towns with sizeable Anglophone populations such as Sherbrooke, Lachine, Saint Michel and Sainte-Cunégonde (now called Little Burgundy) also incorporated some or all of these same Anglophone symbols into their own respective arms.

While Viger’s selection of heraldic symbols aptly represented Quebec’s Anglophone population, the charges themselves were not unique Quebec inventions since they were borrowed from British heraldry. Over the years, without a truly unique symbol of their own, Quebec’s Anglophones tended to gravitate towards British icons such as the Union Jack, the Red Ensign and then later on Canada’s Maple Leaf.

In Spring 2007, an article was published in Flagscan (Issue 83 – ISSN 0833-1510) suggesting that Quebec’s Anglophone population should adopt its own flag. The article noted that Francophone minority populations outside Quebec in the rest of Canada all had their own unique cultural identity flags and that the English speaking community of Quebec should do the same. A number of possible designs were also presented. A variant of the same article was also posted over the internet.

Other than British heraldic charges, Quebec’s Anglophone community still has no unique emblem representing itself that is officially recognized at any government level.