Last modified: 2005-06-03 by phil nelson
Keywords: canada: first nations | t'souke nation | esquimalt nation | odanak nation | beaver | maple leaf | arrows | native american | turtle | bear | red earth cree nation |
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T'souke Nation, Vancouver Island (designed by myself and officially adopted
in 1997 by the nation)
Andrew Andersen, 27 January 2001
Esquimalt Nation, Vancouver Island (unofficially used since 1997)
Andrew Andersen, 27 January 2001
The Indian Nisga'a Nation has had autonomy within British Colombia since May 2000. The flag, The result of a public competition won by Lloyd McDames and Peter McKay, was adopted on April 24, 2001. Red, white, and black are the traditional Nisga'a colors. The circle in the white stripe represents a rainbow. The hayatskw, a copper shield, symbolizes the history of the Nisga'a Nation.
Capital: New Aiyansh
Area (sq. km): 2,000
Population: 5,500
source: Illustrated Guide to Flags by Jos Poels 2003 PRC Publishing Ltd.
There is a picture of the flag at this site: http://www.nisgaalisims.ca/home.html
Geoff Haley, 17 June 2004
reconstruction
by Jorhge Hurtado
from a table flag
by Luc Baronian
The flag of the Indian nation of Odanak in Quebec was adopted at the end of 20th century.
Source is Michel Lupant (Gaceta de Banderas #65)
Symbols in the corners are: a black turtle, a black bear, a maple leaf and
a yellow bird over a black rectangle.
Jaume Ollé
The image on by Jorhge Hurtado, based on Jaume Ollé's description, is
probably an erroneous reproduction. I visited the community in the late 1990s
and I have a table flag version that looks very different. The attached image
is based on a scan of this flag. I also have good reasons to believe that the
flag stands for both Abénakis communities of Quebec, not only Odanak. I saw
the flag in a 1999 issue of Rencontre (21:2, p. 4), behind a leader of the
Grand Conseil de la Nation Waban-Aki, the council representing both
communities. I have also seen a picture of a statue in Wôlinak with the same
motifs represented on the flag and the Waban-Aki council uses them on its
symbol, so it probably stands for the nation as a whole. My young guide in the
Odanak Native museum, however, told me that it was the flag of Odanak. He also
informed me that on the flag, the turtle represents wisdom and the calendar
(the divisions on the animal's shell are seen as representing the months), the
bear represents force and courage, the maple leaves represent Canada and he
couldn't remember what the eagle stood for (nor did any of the two councils
answer my letters). It is worth noting that the maple leaves, green, as they
usually are in Québec heraldry and vexillology, might have a connection with
the oral tradition according to which it was the Abénakis, one of the main
and first allies of the French, who taught French-Canadians the art of making
maple syrup from the sugar maple. The Odanak museum also prominently displays
how maple syrup was made by the ancient Abénakis.
Luc Baronian, 26 May 2005