‘The emblem of one united body … one great sporting Maple Leaf’: The Olympic Games and Canada's quest for self-identity

Abstract

For Canadians, the enduring late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century debate between adherents of sustained British imperialism and those champions of Canadian sovereignty closed in December 1964 by dint of a Canadian Parliamentary act establishing a new national symbol, one that henceforth removed the British ensign from national flag and federal governmental identifications and replaced it with a simple red maple leaf embossed on a white background between two panels of red. This is the primary identification symbol, the logo, indeed the brand, by which Canada is now recognized throughout the world. The birth of the red maple leaf logo's legitimization in both national and international context points to a role played by the Canadian Olympic Committee, the embryo saga of which was superimposed on the initiatives of the nation's first Olympic team, the aggregation of male athletes that competed in the London Games of 1908. This work argues that the introduction of the red maple leaf as a national symbol of Canada, with respect to the logo's initial international debut at the Games of the Fourth Olympiad celebrated in London in 1908, provided the first in a series of succeeding international Olympic occurrences that lent sustenance to a greater Canadian movement towards neoliberal promoted national self-identity and a commensurate beginning of the erosion of what most Canadians would refer to as ‘Britishness’.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

^1. The final ‘Government Funding’ figure in support of the 1908 Canadian Olympic Team totalled $18,500–$15,000 from the Federal Government, $2000 from the Province of Ontario, $1000 from the Province of British Columbia and $500 from the City of Toronto. This revenue figure ($18,500) was complemented by $1025 in personal subscriptions, balanced against an expense total of $20,797.84. See P.D. Ross, ‘Canadian Olympic Committee: Final Report of the Honorary Treasurer and Statement of Receipts and Expenditures, 1908’, Library and Archives Canada (hereafter LAC), Jack Davies Fonds, PAC, MG 30 C 164, Box 19 (COC-COA Olympic Games) File 3, COC Final Report.

^2. See The Fourth Olympiad, London, 1908 – Official Report (London: The British Olympic Association, 1909), 23.

^3. The origin of this historic notation in Canadian Olympic history was reported to members of the Canadian Amateur Athletic Union at its annual meeting some months following the London Games. See ‘President's Address’, Minutes of the 25th Annual Meeting of the CAAU, Toronto, November 9, 1908, 4.

^4. Ross had been a first-class athlete in his university days at McGill in the late 1870s, where he excelled as a member of the rowing and football clubs, as well as participating in golf, hockey, rugby and lacrosse. In his post-university days, he played football, lacrosse and hockey at a superior level, founded several golf clubs. Many years later (1974 and 1976), he was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the Hockey Hall of Fame; see Cain No. 262244, LAC, Philip Dansken Ross fonds.

^5. See Secretary F.L.C. Pereira to L.C. Hoskins, Esq., 2 July 1908, Jack Davies Fonds, File 3, Box 164 (COC-COA Olympic Games), LAC.

^6. The schedule for the Opening Ceremonies set by the Organizing Committee was rigidly followed. Fortunately for all – competitors, officials, spectators and Royal Party – a thunder shower occurring in the morning, threatened again in the afternoon, but ‘held off’ sufficiently that the opening ceremony festivities were completed without interruption. The Fourth Olympiad, London, 1908 – Official Report, 47–49.

^7. See J.H. Crocker, Report of the First Canadian Olympic Athletic Team, 1908 (submitted 20 August 1908), Crocker Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, D.B. Weldon Library, Western University, 3–4. Crocker's post-Games memory failed on his notation that ‘thirty-five’ athletes marched in the opening ceremonies parade. Both the photograph of the ‘Marching Team’ taken before the ceremonies and the photograph of the Canadian contingent shown marching in the stadium clearly show 32 uniformed athletes.

^8.The Times (London), undated, cited by Crocker in his ‘Report …’, 4.

^9. Sir Earl Grey to John Hanbury-Williams, 1 December 1908, Box 25, Canada 1908–1909: [File 1]: Grey File, File III: Correspondence Earl Grey, 1908–1909’, LAC.

^10. Stanley's letter to Matheson is a fundamental document in understanding the evolution of Canada's national flag. See G.F.G. Stanley to John Matheson, Esq., 23 March 1964, Alan Beddoe Papers, MG30, D252, vol. 9, LAC.

^11. See Stanley to Matheson, 23 March 1964.