In heraldry and vexillology, a Canadian pale is a centre band of a vertical triband flag (a pale in heraldry) that covers half the length of a flag, rather than a third as in most triband designs. This allows more space to display a central image (common charge). The name was suggested by Sir Conrad Swan, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant (a heraldic office in Britain), and first used by Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Canada proclaiming the new Canadian flag on 28 January 1965. [1]
The classic Canadian pale is a square central panel occupying half of a flag with 1:2 proportions. However, vexillological usage applies it to any central band that is half the width of the flag, even if this renders it non-square. The term Canadian pale is also used for flags which do not originate in Canada. The 3:5 Flag of Mississippi and proposed flag of Taiwan and the 7:11 flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are all described as having a Canadian pale.
The Canadian pale is a popular feature of sub-national, civic and personal heraldry from Canada developed after 1965. A few examples can be found in the flag of Yukon, the flag of the city of Edmonton, Alberta, the arms of Athabaska University, and in the arms of numerous individual recipients. [2]
The term is sometimes used in an even looser sense to refer to any flag with a larger central panel, irrespective of whether or not it covers half the flag. By this looser description, the flag of Norfolk Island (stripes in a ratio of 7:9:7) and the flag of Iowa (ratio legally undefined, but usually the central stripe is less than twice that of the outer stripes) are sometimes considered to have a Canadian pale.
By analogy, any flag which has a central horizontal stripe that is half the height of the flag is sometimes said to have a Spanish fess.
In coats of arms, and heraldry in general, a 'Canadian pale' is what might well be referred to in South African heraldry as a 'broad pale' as its width is half that of the shield on which it is shown as opposed to the ordinary pale's third to a quarter. They are most commonly used in Canadian heraldry.
In vexillography, the canton is a rectangular emblem placed at the top left of a flag, usually occupying up to a quarter of a flag's area. The canton of a flag may be a flag in its own right. For instance, British ensigns have the Union Jack as their canton, as do their derivatives such as the national flags of Australia and New Zealand.
The flag of Yukon is a green, white, and blue tricolour with the coat of arms of Yukon at the centre above a wreath of fireweed, the territorial flower. An official flag for Yukon was created during the 1960s, a decade in which the national flag of Canada was chosen as well as several other provincial flags were created. The flag of Yukon was officially selected from a territory-wide design competition in 1967, with the winning design adopted on March 1, 1968.
In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third. The Oxford Guide to Heraldry states that earlier writers including Leigh, Holme, and Guillim favour one-third, while later writers such as Edmondson favour one-fifth "on the grounds that a bend, pale, or chevron occupying one-third of the field makes the coat look clumsy and disagreeable." A fess is likely to be shown narrower if it is uncharged, that is, if it does not have other charges placed on it, and/or if it is to be shown with charges above and below it; and shown wider if charged. The fess or bar, termed fasce in French heraldry, should not be confused with fasces.
In heraldry, an ordinary is one of the two main types of charges, beside the mobile charges. An ordinary is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use as long as the traditional ordinaries. Diminutives of ordinaries and some subordinaries are charges of the same shape, though thinner. Most of the ordinaries are theoretically said to occupy one-third of the shield; but this is rarely observed in practice, except when the ordinary is the only charge.
A triband is a type of flag which consists of three stripes arranged to form a flag. These stripes may be two or three colours, and may have an emblem in the middle stripe. All tricolour flags are tribands, but not all tribands are tricolour flags, which requires three unique colours.
The lozenge in heraldry is a diamond-shaped rhombus charge, usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today. A mascle is a voided lozenge—that is, a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped hole in the middle—and the rarer rustre is a lozenge containing a circular hole in the centre. A lozenge throughout has "four corners touching the border of the escutcheon". A field covered in a pattern of lozenges is described as lozengy; similar fields of mascles are masculy, and fusils, fusily. In civic heraldry, a lozenge sable is often used in coal-mining communities to represent a lump of coal.
In heraldry and vexillology, a Spanish fess is a term occasionally used to describe the central horizontal stripe of a tricolour or triband flag that is twice the width of the stripes on either side of it.
The Royal Heraldry Society of Canada is a Canadian organization that promotes interest in heraldry in Canada. It was founded in 1966 and granted royal patronage in 2002.
In heraldry and vexillology, a pale is a charge consisting of a band running vertically down the centre of a shield or flag. Writers broadly agree that the width of the pale ranges from about one-fifth to about one-third of the width of the shield, but this width is not fixed. A narrow pale is more likely if it is uncharged, that is, if it does not have other objects placed on it. If charged, the pale is typically wider to allow room for the objects depicted there.
The flag of Crimea is the flag of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in Ukraine and the Republic of Crimea controlled by Russia. The flag was officially adopted on 24 September 1992 as the flag of the Republic of Crimea, readopted on 21 April 1999, then readopted on 4 June 2014 as the flag of the Republic of Crimea, annexed by the Russian Federation.
The coat of arms of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast is the official coat of arms of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia. It consists of a Siberian tiger standing on four legs with the tail and the head turned upwards, of which the latter is facing the observer. This specific position and occurrence of the tiger symbolizes the history and development of the Oblast. The emblem is a heraldic French shield and the background represents the color of the geographical characteristics of the Russian Far East, which includes taigas, hills, and meadows.
The Flag of Novosibirsk Oblast is the official symbol of Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia.
The flag of Donetsk has two horizontal stripes with the shield of the city's coat of arms overlaid centrally.
The flag of Cagayan is the provincial flag of Cagayan, Philippines. It is a horizontal triband of blue, gold and green, charged with the provincial coat-of-arms ringed by 29 white, five-pointed stars. It was adopted on March 11, 1970 by the virtue of Provincial Board Resolution No. 319.
The flag of Kemerovo Oblast is a red rectangle with a blue stripe at the hoist side, its width 1/3 of the flag length. In the upper part of the blue stripe is the Kemerovo Oblast coat of arms. The coat of arms contains the year 1943, the year of the oblast's foundation, on a red Order of Lenin ribbon with gold edges. The emblem contains a pick axe and a hammer. The oblast is one of Russia's major coal and metal mining regions. The flag ratio is 1:2, however a variant used from 2003 is 2:3 ratio.
The flag of Kursk Oblast was adopted on 17 December 1996. The flag consists of five stripes of red, silver, gold, and black in the ratio 2:1:1:1:2. The black, white, and gold stripes are defaced by the coat of arms of Kursk Oblast. The flag has a width-length ratio of 2:3 and was adopted under law N19-3KO.
The flag of the president of Colombia consists, like the flag of Colombia, of a rectangle in yellow, blue and red triband in a 2:1:1 ratio, meaning three horizontal stripes, with yellow at the top occupying half the width of the flag, blue at the bottom. middle occupying a quarter of the width and red below, occupying the last quarter, finished off in the central part with the coat of arms of Colombia.
The Color and Flag of the President of Colombia shall consist of three horizontal bands, with yellow occupying half of the upper part, and the other two colors the other half, divided into equal bands, blue in the center and red in the lower part, as well as the Coat of Arms in the central part. The proportions of the elements of the Coat of Arms will be in direct relation to the hoisting, and the flight will vary according to the customs of the military and naval services.
For a fuller account see 'A King in Canada' by Sir Conrad Swan, pp.242-247.