Canadians love their maple leaf

Arlene Stacey | June 29th, 2012

A new survey conducted by Ipsos-Reid found that Canadians have nothing but pride for the maple leaf, Canada’s most recognizable symbol.

Normally, Canadians are seen as hesitant to display their patriotism in the same way as our neighbors south of the border, but this poll challenges that belief.

The survey was conducted for the Historica-Dominion Institute just days before the Canada Day long holiday weekend, and the results suggest that Canadians are becoming more outwardly proud of their country.

The biggest example of this comes from the maple leaf itself, where one in five of the respondents said they would consider getting a tattoo of the Canadian flag somewhere on their body.

Respondents overwhelmingly (59 per cent) chose the maple leaf as their national symbol — and they are happy to see it anywhere, underwear included.

Other recognizable Canadian symbols such as the Mountie, beaver and hockey jerseys only received 10 per cent of the vote each. Options like the polar bear, Inukshuk, canoe and poutine were even further behind.

Historica-Dominion Institute’s national director Jeremy Diamond told The Canadian Press how surprised he was by the results. “The fact that it was a clear front-runner surprised us. We thought that (the other symbols) would be much higher up. … It looks like there’s an interesting consensus across regions, across age, across any demographic that the maple leaf remains the one symbol that all Canadians can agree on.”

The most prideful provinces? Saskatchewan and Manitoba. People under 55 also scored higher in the patriotism department.

Alexander Muir’s 1867 song “The Maple Leaf Forever” was long regarded as Canada’s national song, and less than 100 years later the red and white maple leaf flag as we know it today replaced the Red Ensign, after a long and heated debate.

Considering the maple tree doesn’t even grow in western Canada, the results show just how unifying and deeply ingrained into our culture the symbol has become.

Sources: Ipsos Reid, Herald News