The flag of Vancouver was adopted by the

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor and ten councillors elected to serve a four-year term. Monthly, a deputy mayor is appointed from among the councillors. The current mayo ...

on May 17, 1983. It was designed by

Robert Watt Robert Douglas Watt, (born 1945) is a former Canadian museum curator and officer of arms who served as the first Chief Herald of Canada. He was appointed at the foundation of the Canadian Heraldic Authority in 1988, and he was succeeded by Cla ...

, the director of the

Vancouver Museum The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) (formerly the Vancouver Museum and prior to that the Centennial Museum) is a civic history museum located in Vanier Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. The MOV is the largest civic museum in Canada and the oldest museum ...

at the time, and later the

Chief Herald of Canada Chief Herald of Canada is the title held by the head of the Canadian Heraldic Authority. The Chief Herald of Canada directs the operations of the Canadian Heraldic Authority and makes the grants of arms. There are exceptions to this, such as certa ...

. It features a white field with five wavy blue barrulets, and a green pentagon on the hoist side surmounted by a gold shield with the city badge, which consists of a

mural crown A mural crown ( la, corona muralis) is a crown or headpiece representing city walls, towers, or fortresses. In classical antiquity, it was an emblem of tutelary deities who watched over a city, and among the Romans a military decoration. Later ...

with crossed axe and paddle. The white and blue symbolize

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

's position as a natural harbour on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, while the green pentagon represents the land on which the city was built, and the forests which stood on this land. These elements echo the motto on the pre-1969 municipal coat of arms, ''By Sea and Land We Prosper''. The mural crown in the city badge reflects Vancouver's status as an incorporated

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, while the axe and paddle stand for the city's traditional industries, logging and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

. Prior to this flag, Vancouver had a different municipal flag which was the result of a contest held in 1978, with the winning entry submitted by Rudolph Danglemaier. The flag featured a white

Canadian pale In heraldry and vexillology, a Canadian pale is a centre band of a vertical Triband (flag), triband flag (a pale (heraldry), pale in heraldry) that covers half the length of a flag, rather than a third as in most triband designs. This allows more s ...

flanked by a green stripe on the hoist side, and a blue stripe on the fly side. The shield, helmet, mantling and crest from the city arms were placed in the centre of the flag.

References

External links

Symbols of the city of Vancouver
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vancouver, Flag of Flags of cities in British Columbia Flag Flags introduced in 1983 1983 establishments in British Columbia

See also

References

External links