Western Separatist Movements (Canada)

Last modified: 2002-03-02 by phil nelson
Keywords: separatist movement: canada | scandinavian cross | stars |
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by Andrew Andersen

I just wanted to send a flag which I have seen several times at the meetings of West-Canadian regionalists (in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan). As was explained to me, red St. George Cross stands for England, blue and white colors for Scotland and dark green for Ireland (This part of Canada is closely connected with British heritage). The cross has been moved to the left forming a sort of Scandinavian cross because Canada is a Nordic country and also because many West-Canadians have strong Scandinavian background. The white star is the Polar Star. Also green represents rainforest and wilderness while blue stands for ocean and sky. Andrew Andersen, 15 February 2001

From an article on CBC on Friday, I saw two new (to me) Western Canada separatist flags, on display at a rally in Saskatchewan (at least one may not be of Western Canada separation, but just of Saskatchewan, can't tell).

A couple of things I noticed about both of the flags

by David Kendall

The first west1 was in flag form acting as a table cloth,

by David Kendall

The second was on a cap and may be a logo), both have red-white-blue colours, both have an unequal tricolour (interesting that the design reminds me a lot of Uzbekistan!), and both have 6 six-pointed stars and a four-pointed star. I don't know what the six signifies, but the four pointed star probably stands for the four prairie provinces (Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia (although I never really considered it a prairie province), and my own province of Manitoba).
David Kendall, 18 February 2001

See also:

• Canada: Historic, Cultural, Economic, Government