Standard of Gaspésie, Quebec, Canada (original) (raw)

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Anniversary of Jacques Cartier landing

[ [Standard of Gasp�sie] ](../images/c/ca-gasp1.gif) image by Ivan Sache, 16 January 2010

"Standard of Gasp�sie", 2009

The "Corporation des F�tes de Gasp� 2009" (Gasp� Festival Corporation 2009) was set up to organize the celebration of the 475th anniversary of Jacques Cartier's landing at Gasp� on 24 July 1534 ("475e Gasp�sie 2009"). Cartier erected a cross, which is traditionally considered as the proof of the territorial claim by King of France Fran�ois I and, therefore, the founding event of the French colonization in the Americas, Gasp� being nicknamed "The Cradle of Canada". Some historians question this interpretation, considering that crosses were commonly used at that time as a help to sailors and that the official explanation of the event was invented much later to substantiate the French claims. Anyway, nothing has remained of the cross but a replica built in Saint-Malo (Brittany, France), charged with the royal arms '"Azure three fleurs-de-lis or". In 1934, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the event, a monolithic granite cross (10 m in height, 29 t in weight) of modern design was erected on the most probable site (also disputed because of the lack of details in Cartier's original record) of the founding event; the cross was relocated in 1979 in the downtown.

The "Corporation des F�tes de Gasp� 2009" unveiled the "standard of Gasp�sie" on its blog on 19 January 2008. Deemed "typically Gasp�sien", the flag has the following explanation (original in French):

In the East, between the sea and the mountains,
Stands up the rising sun,
High and proud, its warmth is in the image
Of the soul of the Gasp�siens.
Sometimes bright, sometimes blurred,
It is always there.
Its rays, red for fall, blue for winter,
green for spring and yellow for summer,
Illuminate our motherland,
Uniting and wrapping it within
An aura of joy and hope.

The dimension of the flag is 36" x 72", that is a 1:2 proportion.

http://lecartablenouvelles.blogspot.com/2009/01/dvoilement-de-ltendard-de-la-gaspsie.html

Claudine Roy, President of the Board of the "Corporation", convinced the well-known Canadian astronaut Julie Payette (b. 1963) to patron the celebrations. After having completed the cross-country skiing race "Travers�e de la Gasp�sie", also organized by Claudine Roy, Julie Payette was offered the flag of Gasp�sie. She brought the flag into the "Endeavour" space shuttle and the International Space Station during the STS-127 mission (15-31 July 2009). She had been expected to bring back the flag to Gasp� on 24 July 2009; due to the postponing of the mission, the ceremony actually took place on 28 August 2009. During the ceremony, the astronaut stressed that the flag had made 248 revolutions around the Earth, travelling 10.5 millions km.
http://webtele.tv/index.php?id=76&c=12 - Video of the ceremony (the flag appears at the very end of the video)

A photo of the flag brought by Julie Payette is shown on the Canadian Space Agency's website:http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/sts-127/ofk.asp#ofk6 - (the image shows the reverse of the flag, with the sun rising in the west!)
Ivan Sache, 16 January 2010

Flag of "475e Gasp�sie 2009

[ [475e Gasp�sie] ](../images/c/ca$gasp.gif) image by Ivan Sache, 16 January 2010

The official flag of the 2009 celebration is a 36" x 54" white flag with the corporation's logo. On the logo, the three flags, from top to bottom, yellow, green and blue, can be seen as waves, the wind or sails. As on the flag of Gasp�sie, the colours represent the four seasons. There is also a set of coloured flags (red, blue, green and yellow; 36" x 54" and 6" x 10") of a more complex design, also including the logo.

http://www.475gaspe.com/?id=5&titre=Salle_de_presse_et_signature_corporative - Logo
http://www.475gaspe.com/?id=9&titre=Pavoisement___Decoration - Flags

Ivan Sache, 16 January 2010

"Flag of Gasp�sie", alternative proposal, 2010

[ [2010 Gasp�sie proposal] ](../images/c/ca-gasp2.gif) image by Ivan Sache, 16 January 2010

The "standard of Gasp�sie" does not seem to have been unanimously accepted in Gasp�sie. On 22 July 2009, a visitor to the blog complained that the Gaspesians did not seem to have been widely consulted on the flag; s/he stressed that nothing in the flag's design is specifically representative of Gasp�sie.

In "Le Riverain", 14 January 2010, Daniel Lamarre presents a proposal of "flag of Gasp�sie". The proposal is also supported by a Facebook group that claims some 1,500 members.

The project was initiated in autumn 2001 by the historian Marc-Antoine Deroy, from Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, and Dave No�l, from Alma. They wanted Gasp�sie to be the second region of Qu�bec after Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean to have its own flag. I understand that the creation of the "standard of Gasp�sie" boosted the old project.

The "flag of Gasp�sie", sought to be an alternative to the "standard of Gasp�sie", is blue with a white cross fimbriated in red, a yellow star in the middle and a yellow anchor in each quarter. The authors claim that each element of the flag has a proper, local significance and follows the rules of vexillology and heraldry. The blue quarters represent the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The white cross recall the [French royal] flags hoisted by the explorers Jacques Cartier and Samuel of Champlain, the whit cross on blue recalling that Gasp�sie is part of Qu�bec. The red fimbriation represents the energy available on the shores of Gasp�sie. The anchors recall that fishing was the founding activity of Gasp�sie and that its inhabitants are "anchored in the four corners" of the territory. This is a literal illustration of the French expression "ancr�s dans les quatre coins", which means "firmly settled in every corner of the territory". Anchors were also used as their symbol by the French port towns. The star represent the Mounts Notre-Dame, located in the center of the region, and is also a tribute to the Acadian settlers in Gasp�sie.

The next step is to present the flag to the Regional Conference of Representatives. The proposers have also created a Facebook group, which has now more than 1,500 members.
http://leriverain.canoe.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=125280&id=483&classif=Nouvelles- "Le Riverain", 14 January 2010
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=66226314965&ref=share -"Drapeau de la Gasp�sie" Facebook group
Ivan Sache, 16 January 2010

In "Le Riverain", 2 February 2010, Daniel Lamarre reports that the flag proposal was officially delivered to the Regional Conference of the Representatives ("Conf�rence R�gionale des �lus" - CR�) during a public meeting held in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts on 29 January 2010. Following a presentation of the proposal by Marc-Antoine DeRoy, the board of the CR� have accepted to put the flag proposal on the agenda of the next meeting, scheduled to the beginning of March 2010. The CR� will probably require a democratic process of adoption and the appointment of a ad hoc commission. DeRoy asked that the submitted proposals are designed by professionals and follow the rules of heraldry; the CR� members are also required to spread the project, especially via the Municipal Councils.
http://leriverain.canoe.ca/webapp/sitepages/content.asp?contentid=127749&id=483&classif=Nouvelles
Ivan Sache, 2 February 2010

[ [2010 Gasp�sie proposal] ](../images/c/ca-qc-ga%5Fprop2.jpg) image located by Marc Pasquin, 4 April 2022

In this picture of Simon Desch�nes, current mayor of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts in the Gaspesie Region, you can see flying behind him the flag proposal.

Like the Saguenay, the Gaspesie region has its own culture and accent distinct from that of quebecois in the St. Lawrence valley so adopting a flag makes sense.

The flag was designed by Historian Marc-Antoine De Roy who incidentally lived in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts.

The symbolism ascribed to the flag, according to the linked Radio-Canada article, is:
- Four anchors to recall that fishing is the main reason why Gaspesie was settled and that the Micmac, other first nations, francophone and anglophones are well anchored at the four corners of the territory.
- four blue quarters the represent the seaway, the estuary, Chaleur Bay & the gulf of St. Lawrence.
- a yellow star for the contribution of the Acadians for the settlement of the region.
- A white cross to represent the Royal Cross on the sails of Jacques Cartier's ship.
- Red bands on the borders of the quarter to represent courage, resourcefulness & all the vigour and energy emanating from the coasts of Gaspesie.

Note that unlike the one pictures in the Radio-Canada article linked below, the one in the photography doesn't seem to be square but rather in the official ratio used for the provincial flag of Quebec.

Sources:
- photography: https://www.lesoleil.com/.../pres-de-60-des-villes-de-la...
- Infos: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/.../deux-anne-montoises...

Marc Pasquin, 4 April 2022