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Quebec - Patriotic flag before 1900

Indépendantistes du Québec

See also:

Patriotic flag before 1837-39

by Luc-Vartan Baronian

Description<-BR> Proportions 1:2 and 2:3 are seen. <-BR> Horizontal green-white-red, sometimes seen with a yellow star, near the hoist in the green stripe. <-BR> The green represents the Irish in the ranks of the Patriotes. The flag in its whole is a revolutionary flag (it was adopted in the early 1800s).
Use of the flag The addition of the star seems to be of this century. <-BR>The original flag was used by the Parti Patriote, a mainly French-Canadian party, but that also had many Irish members and some English members. This flag was banned by the British authorities, after the 1837-1839 revolution in Lower Canada (actual Quebec). <-BR>In the '60s and '70s it was used by the FLQ. It even flew in Alger (Algeria!) where an FLQ branch was officially recognized and financed by the government. <-BR>Today it is seen in many nationalist manifestations and in commemorations of the Patriotes. A new party, the MNLQ (Mouvement National de Liberation du Quebec) founded by the ex-leader of the Algeria faction of the FLQ uses the starred version. (It is considered an extremist party). <-BR>NB : If you're ever in Montreal, visit the Musee du Chateau Ramezay ; you will see the Patriote flag of the St-Eustache battle (it has a fish, maple leaves, etc..).
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 14 March 1997

This flag (without star) was used during the Rebellion led by Louis-Joseph Papineau in 1837-1838 to establish a republic in the by-then Lower Canada, which corresponds to the Province of Quebec now.
Michel Simard - 30 September 1998

Patriotic Flags after 1839

Images by Jaume Olle from the article "Flags of Quebec" by François Beaudoin, FLAG BULLETIN, Vol. XXIII, No. 5 / 107, September-October 1984, pgs. 149-163.

These flags are based on the French tricolore. <-BR>Until the 1837-1839 rebellion, green-white-red horizontals were very popular in Lower Canada. <-BR>After the rebellion, the British banned the use of such flags, therefore French-Canadians started looking for new identifying flags. Variations on the French tricolore became the most popular choice in the second half of the XIXth century in what was now known as Quebec (since 1867). These flags had the advantage of being tolerated by the British authorities because of the alliance between France and the UK in the Crimean war against Russia from 1853 to 1871.
Here are different variations with traditional French-Canadian symbols : maple leaves, beavers, the sacred heart.