Many Quebecker's consider themselves a nation rather than Canadian. Thus the Fleur de Lis gets flown rather than both flags (which would cause controversy in Quebec, the Nationalists are a very large minority).
The 'Acadian' flag is a modern contrivance. Frank could possibly elucidate better, as IIRC he is Acadian (which btw, is the word that Cajun is derived from), but Cape Breton is to a great extent the heart of Acadian identity today. The Acadians were the first settlers on mainland Canada, and were at one point thrown out of the Maritimes by the British due to tensions/hostilities with France (most ended up in Louisiana) before being allowed to return some time later. They are very distinctly different from les Habitants of Quebec, who are the more numerous group of French settlers, and the ones that the other smaller French groups in Canada are mostly descended (the Metis and Franco-Ontariens are mostly descended from Habitants). Canadian flags do seem to get less common the further west or north you go. -Adam Daniel J. Matyola wrote: > I have just returned from two weeks in Eastern Canada, and I observed > a lot of flags in the various provinces up there. > > In Europe, some countries -- like Switzerland, Norway and Denmark -- > seem to fly their national flags even more than we flag-waving > Americans do. In other countries, like Germany and Italy, the > national flags are rarely seen. > > Canada seems to be full of lags. In the Maritime provinces, the > provincial flag is usually flown beside the national flag. In Quebec, > however, the blue and white provincial flag is everywhere, but the red > and white Canadian flag was quite rare. Most provincial government > buildings were flying only the flag of Quebec, without the Canadian > flag, mostly of national government buildings and tourist hotels. I > can't imagine a state office building in New Jersey or New York flying > only the state flag without causing a considerable controversy. > > Also, on the West coast of Cape Breton, I saw a lot of "Acadian" > flags, but was not really certain of what they mean or why they seemed > pretty much restricted to that area. > > TIA, > > Dan M > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
