How should the maple leaf face when the flag is displayed vertically?
When viewed from the front, the upper part of the leaf should point to the viewer's left. This keeps the flag's intended orientation when it is hung vertically.
Flag of Canada
The flag has 3 vertical bands from hoist to fly: red · white · red.
Current flag
Flag emoji 🇨🇦
Canada
Flag facts
Information about the flag’s design, colours and proportions.
- Proportion
- 1:2 height: width
- Adopted
- 1965
Flag design
The flag has 3 vertical bands from hoist to fly: red · white · red.
- Layout
- Vertical bands
- Number of bands
- 3
- Details
- Unequal-width bands
- Symbols
- Plant – Centre
- Colours
- Red and white
A maple leaf chosen to be recognized at a distance
The maple leaf appeared as a Canadian emblem long before the current national flag. Canadian Heritage traces its use as a sign of Canadian identity to the 19th century, including on coats of arms and flags.
For the flag adopted in the 1960s, the original 13-point leaf design was changed to a simpler 11-point form. The official explanation is practical: the original detail was hard to recognize from a distance and in wind.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
Country facts
- Type
- Country
- Name
- Canada
- Continent
- North and Central America
- Capital
- Ottawa
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
- CA
- ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
- CAN
- ISO 3166-1 numeric
- 124
- Top-level domain
- .ca
- Area
- 9,984,670 km²
- Population
- 41,651,653 (2025)
- Currency
- CAD
- Calling code
- +1
Flags with a similar layout
These flags come from the same region and share one or more design characteristics.
Historical flags: Canada (1606–)
Images are ordered by the years listed in the collection. A listed year may not be the flag’s official adoption year.
About historical flags
Vexilla's historical flag collection includes former flags associated with present-day countries and territories, as well as flags of states, empires, and other authorities that historically governed them.
A flag's inclusion in a country's historical collection does not necessarily mean that the country was independent at the time or that the flag was its own national flag.
The years shown are based on historical records in the dataset and do not always indicate the date of official adoption. The collection is not exhaustive, and historical usage, territorial coverage, and interpretations may vary.
