Métis flag
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Métis flag was first used by Métis resistance fighters in Rupert's Land before the 1816 Battle of Seven Oaks. According to only one contemporary account, the flag was "said to be" a gift from the North West Company in 1815, but no other surviving accounts confirm this. Both the red and blue versions of the flag have been used to represent the political and military force of the Métis since that time. The Métis flag predates the Flag of Canada by at least 150 years, and is the oldest patriotic flag that is indigenous to Canada.
The blue background flag has been accepted by the Métis National Council as the official flag of the Métis Nation. In 2013, the Métis National Council secured an official mark for the flag to protect it as a symbol of the Métis Nation, and ensure its collective ownership by citizens of the Métis Nation.
Adoption of the flag in modern times
The first flag of the Métis was long forgotten among the other flags adopted and flown by the Métis at various points of their political and national growth. In the mid 1970s, the Métis flag being flown by the Native Council of Canada had a green background, and on the flag was a ring of alternating shamrocks and fleur-de-lys around a bison. However, there was friction due to difference of opinions between the Métis Society of Saskatchewan and the Native Council of Canada, and this friction helped to spur the debate about whether there was a historic Métis flag that they should be using. A consultant was tasked by the Métis Society of Saskatchewan board of directors to research and present on historic flags used by Métis.
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This entry incorporates text from “Métis flag” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.