Canada is the country whose flag features a red maple leaf between two red vertical bands.
Canada adopted its current national flag on February 15, 1965. The design has a white square at the centre, containing a stylized 11-point red maple leaf, flanked by two red panels. The maple leaf had already become a widely recognized symbol of Canadian identity before the flag was adopted.
The flag resulted from a prolonged national debate over a new design, often called the Great Canadian Flag Debate. Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson supported a design with blue side panels and three maple leaves, while the final design was developed by a parliamentary committee and refined by George Stanley and others.
The maple leaf on the flag is not intended to represent a particular maple species. Canada’s flag is commonly called the Maple Leaf, or l’Unifolié in French, meaning “the one-leafed.”