Canada's current national flag was first raised in 1965.
The maple-leaf flag officially appeared on February 15, 1965, at a ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Its design has two red vertical side panels and a central white panel twice their width, bearing a stylized red maple leaf with 11 points. February 15 is now celebrated as National Flag of Canada Day.
The flag emerged from the Great Flag Debate, a major political and cultural dispute over whether Canada should adopt a distinctive national banner rather than continue using designs tied closely to Britain. Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson created a committee in 1964, and historian George F. G. Stanley's maple-leaf design was selected.
Before 1965, the Canadian Red Ensign was widely used and had received official approval for certain occasions in 1945. The Royal Union Flag remains an official symbol of Canada's allegiance to the monarch and Commonwealth, but the maple-leaf flag is Canada's national flag.