^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Canada, army flags

Army Ensign
Chief of Staff of the Army
- Historical car flag for 1st Canadian Army commander and staff

See also:

Outside Links:

Army Ensign

image by Graham Bartram

The Land Forces Command of the Canadian Armed Forces has a new badge and flag. More information can be found at
http://www.lfc.dnd.ca/english/organis/command/newbadge.htm
Chris Pinette, 16 April 1998

Canada has a new army flag (adopted 20 April 1998). It is white with NF in the canton. In the fly, there are two crossed swords, partially covered by a red maple leaf. Proportion 1:2, canton covers 25% of the flag area.
Jan Zrzavy, 20 April 1998

Mobile Command / Force Mobile Command (1968-97)

Upon the unification of the three branches of the Canadian military into the Canadian Forces in 1968, all her strike 'bomber' aircraft (the CF-104 Starfighter, no less) were transferred from the air force (which became the Air Defence Command) to the land army (which became the Mobile Command). Obviously this awkward marriage of ground troops and supersonic jets did not last long, and the Mobile Command gave up all its aircraft to the Air Defence Command (hereafter the Air Command) in 1975. The Mobile Command was renamed the Force Mobile Command, without changing its symbol, and unofficially referred to as the 'Canadian Army', a reality finally acknowledged in 1997 when it was again renamed the Land Force Command.
Miles Li, 3 July 2009

Canadian Mobile Forces (i.e., the Army) Camp Flag. This is a fairly recent change with a new badge in the fly. The new badge comprises crossed swords (with the same hilts as the CF badge) superimposed by a red maple leaf (a natural design with gold veins rather than the stylized national emblem). The flag is 1:2, white with the Canadian flag in the canton (quarter of the area) and the army badge centred in the fly.
Graham Bartram, 14 August 1999

Old Canadian Army Badge

image by Glen Robert-Grant Hodgins

TThe sprig of maple leaves is red; the swords gold; and the Crown is coloured as in the usual British/Commonwealth heraldic manner. Although Canadian Brigadiers continued to wear the Royal Crest as a cap badge right up until the unification of the 3 separate services, (i.e.., 1968), it is my understanding that the Canadian Army badge was "Canadianised" (i.e., altered to that shown in the gif), as long ago as the late-1940s. As I think is obvious, the Canadian badge remains true to its origins, while nevertheless asserting a distinctive Canadian identity: the secret of a successful heraldic (re-?)design.

PS: Although the Canadian Army badge shown in the image disappeared for a generation, I have noticed its (no doubt only quasi-official) revival on such things as the covers of certain Canadian Forces training manuals, which are aimed exclusively at soldiers.
Glen Robert-Grant Hodgins, 30 November 1998

Chief of the Army Staff

image by Jaume Ollé

Historical car flag for 1st Canadian Army commander and staff

image located by T.F. Mills, 27 May 2015
Source: http://bcoy1cpb.pacdat.net/Flag_GOC_First_Cdn_Army_-_Crerars_jeep_flag.jpg

The 1st Canadian Army had a car flag for its commander and staff, which clearly served as the inspiration for the later Chief of the Army Staff. The red-black-red scheme was, in turn, clearly derived from the (British) Indian Army pre-war higher formations.
T.F. Mills, 27 May 2015