Deciding where to eat, where to stay, what to see, and how to play can make trip-planning fun, but seeking out and beginning to understand another culture and society are the most enriching experiences of travel.
Long May They Wave: The Flags of Canada and Québec -- With a relatively small population spread over a territory larger than the continental United States, Canadians' loyalties have always tended to be directed to the cities and regions in which they live, rather than to the nation at large. Part of it comes from the semi-colonial relationship the nation retained with England (Queen Elizabeth II is still on all the currency), and part from the fact that its citizens speak two different major languages. It wasn't until 1965 that the now-familiar red-and-white maple leaf version of the Canadian flag was introduced, replacing the red ensign with a Union Jack in the upper-left corner, and Canadians didn't even have a national anthem until O, Canada! was given the title in 1980.
Regional pride and identification grew after World War II. Québécois began asserting themselves and officially adopted their new "national" flag, the Fleurdelisé, in 1950. The flag employs the traditional blue and white of France with four fleurs-de-lis.
In the face of decades of hurt and outright hostilities between French and English Canada, there must be occasional sighs of longing in some quarters for the diplomatic display that is the flag of the city of Montréal. Adopted way back in 1832, it has red crossbars on a white background. The resulting quadrants have depictions of a rose, a fleur-de-lis, a thistle, and a shamrock. They stand, respectively, for the founding groups of the new nation -- the English, French, Scots, and Irish.
