The first Canadian flag was the St. George's Cross, which was brought to Canada by the explorer John Cabot. It was a white flag with a wide vertical red stripe and a wide horizontal white stripe. The flag was thus a quarterly, which divided the flag field into quadrants.
Under French sovereignty the flag had a blue field with three fleur-de-lis.
The next flag, Canada's United Empire Loyalists flag, was a Union Jack. It consisted of two jacks at angles to each other (two crossing diagonally, the other two vertically and horizontally). The stripes were white, and the non-diagonal stripes were superimposed with smaller red stripes. These were arranged on a blue background.
The Royal Union Flag that represents Britain today was then adopted by Canada, and was a combination of the St. George's Cross and the Cross of St. Andrew of Scotland. It was similar to the previous flag except that there were red stripes within all the white stripe fields.
The Canadian Red Ensign originally displayed the Union Jack in the upper left quadrant (known as the canton) along with an emblem of the shield of the four original provinces of Canada located in the fly, or second vertical half of the flag. The background was red. In the early 1920s King George V was asked by the Canadian government to have a coat of arms designed for Canada. From that time on, the Royal Arms of Canada shield appeared in the fly, with slight variations over time as new provinces were added to Canada.
Maple Leaf Flag
The Canadian Red Ensign was replaced in 1965 by the Maple Leaf Flag that is flown today.
The Maple Leaf Flag became official on February 15, 1965 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. It is designed in sections called pales, or vertical divisions. There are three pales on the current Canadian flag. The outer pales are red and the center pale is white. Inside the white pale is an eleven-point sugar maple leaf of red. Red and white are Canada's official colors, designated by King George V when the Maple Leaf Flag was commissioned. The maple leaf had been previously used as a Canadian emblem in several different capacities.
The Maple Leaf Flag becomes a ceremonial dress flag when it has a gold fringe around the outer edge. This is not recognized in any official manner, but it is accepted as being appropriate for use when desired. The fringe adds nothing to the meaning of the flag and there are no rules for using it other than it must have no writing or pining.