Nova Scotia (Canada)

ISO 3166-2 Code: CA-NS
MARC Code: nsc

White with blue saltire and 'Scottish lion' in a shield in the middle. ratio 3:4. officially confirmed 19 January 1929. Civil and state flag on land and civil ensign on sea.
Željko Heimer, 16 July 1996

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I have the text of the 'Royal Warrant Assigning Armorial Bearings to the Province of Nova Scotia' dated 19 January 1929. This was published in 'The Royal Gazette', Halifax, 4 December 1929, and refers both to the grant of Arms by H.M.. Queen Victoria on 26 May 1838 (which it cancels and annuls), and to those "recorded in or about the year 1625 in the Office of Our Lyon Kings of Arms in Scotland" (which it "grants and confirms"). The flag is only referred to in passing when it says that the arms may be used "upon Seals, Shields, BANNERS or otherwise according to the Laws of Arms" which is indeed (at least as far as I am aware) in any case "implicit in (any) grant of arms"?.

The only thing I have which refers to an official ratio is contained in 'Nova Scotia, Symbols', 1997 (published in both French and English), which states - without giving any further authority - that "The flag consists of Arms, with the Cross of St Andrew extended in a rectangle three-quarters as wide as its length". Despite this the accompanying illustration is of a flag in 1:2.

I should, perhaps, remark that on both the full Achievement of Arms, the flag, the Shield of Arms and House of Assembly Crest as illustrated in this last, the inescutcheon is shown with an obvious black border.
Christopher Southworth, 25 January 2005

Flags Through The Ages and Across the World by Whitney Smith shows the following ensigns for the provinces of Canada :
Nova Scotia - Red Ensign with a coat of arms that I'm not familiar with
Chris Pinette, 30 June 1998