Mist envelops Quebec on this chilly afternoon of January 21, 1948. A man perched on the central tower of the Parliament Building takes down the Union Jack that has been floating in the Quebec sky since the Conquest of 1759. The British standard make way for the fleur-de-lis that the government of Maurice Duplessis has just adopted on the sly.
Quebec has given itself an official emblem by a simple ministerial decree. This is the flag designed in 1902 by Abbé Elphège Filiatrault from a banner that would have flown at the Battle of Carillon in 1758. Duplessis, however, left his mark on Filiatrault’s canvas by rotating his fleur-de-lis oblique. “Order has been given for them to stand straight up in the sky in the future, in order to clearly indicate the value of our traditions and the strength of our convictions”, launched the Premier in the House.
A twist: a fleur-de-lis is already floating over the Quebec parliament. Duplessis savored the moment, taking care not to mention to his parliamentary colleagues the existence of another flag that his special adviser in heraldry had recommended to him. If the Prime Minister had chosen this model, yellow and not blue would today be the color naturally associated with Quebec.
heraldic dilemma
Back to early 1948. The Prime Minister’s office is buried under letters, telegrams and petitions in favor of the adoption of fleur-de-lis. The movement was fueled by a myriad of nationalist organizations, such as the Jeunes Laurentiens, the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the secret order of Jacques-Cartier. The duty also took a stand for the azure flag with a white cross.
Duplessis hesitates. He feared the reaction of the country’s Anglophones, whose British fervor had prevented the designation of a typical Canadian standard in Ottawa in 1946. The treasurer of Quebec, Onésime Gagnon, came to the rescue of the Prime Minister by calling on Burroughs Pelletier, his brother-in-law passionate about heraldry. The director of urban planning at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs was urgently summoned to Building C. “That’s when my father got involved in the file,” says Louis Pelletier at To have to. Duplessis didn’t quite know how to maneuver and my father happened to be his heraldic surety. »
Burroughs Pelletier suggests the feathering of the Quebec coat of arms of 1868, on which we see two blue lilies, a yellow lion and a branch of maple with green leaves. The background is entirely yellow except for the central band which is red. This idea was already circulating in political circles since it was mentioned at the Salon Vert in March 1947 by Liberal MP Thomas Guerin. Pelletier was responsible for designing this flag, inspired by the Nova Scotia precedent of 1929. He drew up to seven variants of his model, which he submitted to the Prime Minister’s imprimatur.
Emergency
Duplessis wants to settle the question of the flag before the appeal of a motion in favor of a Quebec flag which was entered in the order paper of January 21, 1948 by the independent deputy René Chaloult. The latter is also called to Building C as the debate scheduled for the Green Room approaches. “What would you think of placing the coat of arms of the province in the center of the flag? asks the Prime Minister of the sponsor of the motion, who recounts the scene in his memoirs. “There’s a lion in there, you don’t need to be afraid of it. I am told that it is the lion of William the Conqueror! »
This evocation of the Duke of Normandy who set out to conquer England in 1066 hardly moves Chaloult. Duplessis returns to the charge by multiplying the trial balloons: “What would you say to a red crown, which some could consider as the crown of France and others as that of England? If these proposals did not please your friends, would they prefer a red maple leaf? »
The standard-bearer of the fleur-de-lis promises to think about it. He took advantage of this delay to call Father Lionel Groulx, who rejected the crown, leaving the door open to the maple leaf. “So suggest that he straighten the fleur-de-lis that converge towards the center”, would then have launched the abbot in order to allow the Prime Minister to leave his “personal stamp” on the flag.
Lionel Groulx’s proposal pleased Duplessis, who then allegedly had it approved by Burroughs Pelletier. This version of the facts of Chaloult is however disputed by the son of the self-taught heraldist. “My father is responsible for this and he was very proud of it. Dad said, “Why do you downgrade lilies? They should be straightened”, and Duplessis agreed”, assures Louis Pelletier.
political marketing
Duplessis’ “straightened” fleur-de-lis reception was excellent, if we disregard the exit of the aptly named Élisée Thériault, one of the members of the Quebec Legislative Council. “Instead of placing fleur-de-lis on the flag, it would have been better to put maple leaves, the emblem of our province,” said the Liberal adviser from his seat in the Salon Rouge. We went too fast! »
Converted to fleur-de-lis late in life, Maurice Duplessis will now wrap himself in his folds at the slightest opportunity. “The flag, we spread it, we put it everywhere,” says Professor Alain Lavigne of the Department of Information and Communication at Laval University.
The Union Nationale distributes the new banner on its promotional tools, from matchbooks to puzzles and calendars. However, it spares Anglophones, who will rather see the coat of arms of Quebec on the advertisements intended for them. This symbolic appropriation is strongly denounced by the liberal opposition, which will have little choice to do the same to regain power in 1960. “The liberals adopt it, but not necessarily in the form of the complete flag”, observes Lavigne .
No one is surprised today by the politicization of the fleur-de-lis. Quebecers, however, have modest flags. Evidenced by the unease aroused by the giant fleur-de-lis used as a background for François Legault in December 2018 during the first economic statement of the Coalition avenir Québec. The extraordinary banner, worth $1,600, has not been seen since. “It is stored with different flags used during public activities”, explains the Ministry of Executive Council, which found it at the request of the To have to.
I find it humiliating to see the Union Jack still floating on the Parliament of Quebec. Are we a serf people?