---
title: "Flag of Canada: colours and meaning"
description: "What every colour and symbol on the Canada flag stands for, its official 1:2 ratio, and the year the current design was adopted. Plus the flags it gets mistaken for."
url: https://atoneplace.net/flag/canada/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The flag of Canada

**The flag of Canada: A white square in the centre bearing a red eleven-pointed maple leaf, flanked by two red vertical bands each half the width of the square.**

Ratio 1:2 · current design adopted 1965

*[Flag drawn on the page: Canada]*

The leaf has eleven points and they mean nothing. Earlier proposals used a thirteen-point leaf, which blurred into a red smear in wind-tunnel tests, so the design was simplified until it stayed legible — the count is an artefact of that process, not a tally of provinces, of which there were ten in 1965 anyway. The unusual proportions are a "Canadian pale": the centre square is exactly half the flag's length, so the leaf sits in a square rather than a rectangle. The 1964 parliamentary debate over adopting it ran for six months and 308 speeches and is still called the Great Flag Debate.

## What the colours mean

*Flag laws usually specify a Pantone chip, a CMYK mix or just a colour name. Converting any of those to sRGB is lossy, which is why published hex values disagree.*

- **Red** (#D80621) — From the cross of St George; one of Canada's two official colours since 1921
- **White** (#FFFFFF) — From the French royal emblem; the second official colour

## The symbols on it

| What | What it stands for |
| --- | --- |
| Maple leaf | A Canadian emblem in use since the 1830s, predating the country |

- **Ratio:** 1:2
- **Current design adopted:** 1965
- **Colours:** red, white

> The specification names the colour "red" and a Pantone chip rather than a hex value. #D80621 is the Federal Identity Program conversion; plain #FF0000 is what most reproductions use.

## Common questions

### What does the flag of Canada look like?

A white square in the centre bearing a red eleven-pointed maple leaf, flanked by two red vertical bands each half the width of the square.

### What do the colours of the Canada flag mean?

Red: from the cross of St George; one of Canada's two official colours since 1921. White: from the French royal emblem; the second official colour.

### When was the Canada flag adopted?

The current design dates from 1965, and its official ratio is 1:2.

## Related pages

- [Canada](https://atoneplace.net/country/canada/)
- [Every flag with red in it](https://atoneplace.net/flag/colour/red/)
- [The flag of United States](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-states/)
- [The flag of United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/flag/united-kingdom/)
- [The flag of France](https://atoneplace.net/flag/france/)
- [The flag of China](https://atoneplace.net/flag/china/)
- [The flag of Germany](https://atoneplace.net/flag/germany/)
- [The flag of Russia](https://atoneplace.net/flag/russia/)
- [The flag of Italy](https://atoneplace.net/flag/italy/)
- [The flag of Mexico](https://atoneplace.net/flag/mexico/)

## Sources

- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place (/about/)