Flagging a concern

Let's be respectful of our present flag. And also recognise that it does not necessarily do what flags are supposed to do.

What most of us don't get about flags is that you are meant to take one look at them and instantly recognise the country they signify.

They are not cartoon depictions of our history. As soon as we want them to do that they fail, because they cause conflict about what they don't say as much as about what they do say.

The key issue about our present flag, which some seem to want to be this sort of historical statement, is what it does not and cannot say about our indigenous heritage.

The strength of the Canadian flag, which we so admire, is that they understood the basic need for a flag to be a strong unified symbol not a complex historical depiction of a partisan interpretation of the past.