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Nova Scotia (Canada)

by Vincent Morley

Red Ensign (1868-1929)

by Jaume Ollé

FTTAAATW by Whitney Smith shows the following ensigns for the provinces of Canada :
Nova Scotia - Red Ensign with COA that I'm not familiar with
Chris Pinette - 30 June 1998

Flag of the Lieutenant-Governor

by Martin Grieve and Graham Bartram

'NOVA SCOTIA : Approved 1869/08/07. The document is signed by Queen Victoria.'

This is the date of the Order in Council which instituted the whole system of Union Flag defacements for 'Governors of Her Majesty's dominions in foreign parts, and Governors of all ranks and denominations administering the Governments of British colonies and dependencies,'. It wasn't until 1870 that the Governor General of Canada received sanction to adopt a defacement which varied from the design stipulated by the Order in Council, i.e. a garland of maple leaves instead of laurel leaves. A book called 'Flags of the World; Their History, Blazonry and Associations' by F.E.Hulme published about 1890 is quoted for this. This variation was then extended to Lt.Govs.. Defacements world-wide totaled 145, of which 24 are still current.
David Prothero - 17 February 1997

Do you know when Nova Scotia adopted the current defaced Union Flag design of 'A full ring of 18 green maple leaves....', which is set well within the circumference of the white disc? The original garland was the same as the maple leaf garland used on the flags of all the other provincial Lieutenant-Governors between each one's inception and the change to the current blue flag. This was a much more luxuriant garland, tied with a yellow ribbon, the whole garland concealing the interface between the edge of the white disc and the rest of the flag.
David Prothero - 17 February 1997

For the Governer general of Canada, there was at least 2 modifications...

Since 1981 it is blue with a golden lion holding a maple leaf and with acrown on his head and standing on a red and white piece of cloth.

Before the piece of cloth wasn't there and there was a blue ribbon bordered with yellow and with Canada written in yellow.
Luc-Vartan Baronian - 17 February 1997

1. The N.S. flag is a reverse of the Saint Andrew's Cross of Scotland, with the royal badge of Scotland in the centre. Nova Scotia's flag was granted in 1625 by King James I, (James VI of Scotland) to Sir William Alexander, a Scottish noble and explorer for the establishment of a Colony in what was then French Acadia. At this time, Nova Scotia's coat of arms was also granted.

2. At the time of Confederation, Queen Victoria assigned new coats of arms and flags to all of the provinces. All of these flags may have been based on a Red Ensign, but I have never seen an N.S. Red or Blue Ensign. Nova Scotians hated this new coat of arms.

3. In 1925 a movement came forth asking for the return to the old flag and arms. King George V assented their request.
John MacLean - 19 July 1999

Former Lieutenant Governor flag

by Martin Grieve

Former badge

by Martin Grieve

Nova Scotia was one of the four founding provinces and the thistle and salmon arms granted on 26 May 1868 were approved for use on the Union Jack of the Lieutenant-Governor afloat in 1870. I do not known whether it was used on land.

The 1868 arms were granted even though Nova Scotia already had arms. The original c1625 grant by Lyon King of Arms had been lost. It was re-entered in the register at the Lyon Court in Edinburgh sometime between 1805 and 1810, but ignored when arms for the Canadian provinces were being considered. These original arms, the Royal Arms of Scotland on a blue saltire were re-instated by royal warrant dated 19 January 1929.

This badge replaced the thistle and salmon badge on the Lt-Governor's flag afloat, but, according to Alistair Fraser in Flags of Canada, was probably not used on land until comparatively recently, except as a car flag in the 1950's, at which time the armorial banner was flown at Government House.

Nova Scotia's provincial flag, unlike those of all other Canadian provinces, has never been made official by legislation. It is claimed that the right to create an armorial banner is implicit in a grant of arms, but British Columbia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, which also have armorial banners as provincial flags, have made them official by Order in Council, Proclamation, or Act of Legislature. Fraser points out that in this respect the provincial flag of Nova Scotia is similar in status to the national flag of the United Kingdom.
David Prothero, 19 December 2002