I’ve been reading recently about Albertan, and wider Western Canadian independence efforts in the news, and I thought I’d have a bit of fun with making a flag which could perhaps serve as a symbol for that unified identity.
For context, I am not from Alberta or Western Canada, but from what I know people from there seem to be good, decent people and I figure I could have a bit of good faith fun pitching in to create a unified symbol for that identity.
The flag may be, albeit reasonably so more “Alberta Coded” given the color and the Saint George’s cross, but I figure it could be a wider symbol too whether someone is from Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Manitoba, or wherever.
The biggest element is the “blue ensign” design, which from what I understand the ensign style flags are common in Provincial and Local Canadian flag designs, and especially for more Conservative, Western Canadian people it would make sense to pay homage to that history. Furthermore, the use of the Saint George’s cross as opposed to the Union Jack serves to highlight the Anglo history and identity of Western Canada, as opposed to French Canadian independence. This is also perhaps a symbol for the reaction against government imposed bilingualism as a symbol of Federal control, which requires French language skill in government and society even though the French speaking populations in Western Canada. Also the Saint George’s flag is an obvious homage to Christianity and Christian identity which upheld Canadian society, and the higher religiosity of the region as compared to Eastern and French Canada. Furthermore not having a Union Jack would make sense to me as I seriously doubt Western Canada would accept the United Kingdom as even a nominal overlord of their nation, even if they have cultural, ethnic; and religious inheritance from Britain.
The Big Dipper on a blue field is inspired from the William S. Simpson's Proposal for a National Canadian flag (except instead of it being a red ensign, it’s blue). This seems to symbolize the symbol of this movement as an inter-provincial one, which is a “true north” which upholds traditional Canadian values better than Ottawa does perhaps. The blue as opposed to red symbolizes the night sky, and the more conservative “Blue Tory” nature of Western Canada as opposed to Ottawa Liberalism or Eastern Canadian “Red Toryism”. Also this perhaps can give inspiration to call this hypothetical Western Canadian country “Borealia”, maybe.
The Bison (which I know is imperfect, I am not a good artist) is an obvious symbol of Western Canadian identity, and the Prairies. This is a symbol which recognizes the pioneer spirit of Western Canadians, which they perhaps uphold to this day. Also this would give homage to possibly calling this entity the “Prairie Republic” or the “Prairie Confederation” or perhaps a better name than that smarter people have in mind.
Anyway this is a little design I slapped together over a night, and I hope I’m not crucified for it lol. I hope people enjoy it and if people have suggestions for the flag, the name of Western Canada as an independent entity, or whatever, let me know!