Uta Reilly owns the Klondike Nugget & Ivory Shop. Photo by Dan Davidson

Canada’s Flag Celebrated in Dawson

by Dan Davidson

Legion member John Gould remembers former Yukon Member of Parliament Erik Nielsen being quite angry with him one day in May of 1964 after they had been listening to the debates over the proposed new Canadian flag.

Both men had served in the RCAF pilots in World War II, but their reactions to the proposed change could not have been more different.

“ I thought it was great,” Gould told a packed ancillary room at the Robert Service School on February 15. “ There was no fleur-de-lis, no George’s cross. It’s our own flag.”

John Gould recalled the acrimony of the great flag debate, when our MP called him a traitor for favouring the new flag.- Photos by Dan Davidson

The audience waved their flags frantically during the chorus of “Our Great Canadian Flag”.Photos by Dan Davidson

That’s what he said to Nielsen when the MP asked for his opinion.

Nielsen was incensed.

“You’re a traitor,” he shot back. “You fought under the Red Ensign. That’s what we want, not the new flag.”

“But we got the new flag,” said Gould, having the last word nearly 41 years later.

Gould wasn’t the only special guest at the school’s celebration, which began with a 15 minute video history of the flag and the singing of “O Canada”.

The Hän Singers and Dancers were on hand to perform “The Flag Song”.

For Jorn Meier loving Canada is like loving chocolate- Photos by Dan Davidson

As Georgette McLeod explained, this is a song which was traditionally sung by the Hän people as they came into view of the Moosehide Slide.

“That was considered a landmark. Whenever people would start travelling back into this area, or into a certain area, they would sing a certain song. So when we walked into this area, into this country, we would sing the song with pride because we’d know we were back home, back from visiting the first nations in other areas.”

Jorn Meier is a new Canadian within the last year, though he has lived in Canada for more than a decade. He spoke to the assembly of the event which had triggered his decision to surrender his German citizenship and become a Canadian.

“In 1997 it happened to me that I was working in this little store and a very, very old gentleman came in. he was from Quebec and he hardly spoke any English.”

Meier wanted to know why the old man was making this trip.

“He said, ‘I’m very sick and very old now and I’m going to die soon. I wanted to see my country before I go.’

“That really made me feel something. I realized that even though I still had a German passport, my country of choice was Canada.”

Making the choice was, he said, a little like a love story: “You don’t know when it happens but at some point you’re madly in love and you don’t want to be apart from that person.”

Meier completed the process of transformation in the summer of 2004.

“If you ask me why I like Canada so much, it’s really hard to explain. It’s like why do I like chocolate - it’s really hard to explain. But we are a free country, a proud country, and I’m proud to be here.”

Following the short speeches a combined choir from grades three and five sang “Our Great Canadian Flag” by Majorie Ranger, and then came the cake and goodies.

This event was organized by teacher-librarian Betty Davidson, with the assistance of Elizabeth Connellan of Service Canada, and a number of other people who helped out.

Sam Phelan-McCullough uses his head to celebrate the flag.- Photos by Dan Davidson