Newfoundland Tricolour

Unofficial flag of Newfoundland and Labrador

The Newfoundland Tricolour, or the Pink, White and Green, is an unofficial flag seen in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and is mistakenly believed to have been an official Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador, or more commonly, of the island of Newfoundland specifically. Its proportions are 1:2 with three pales of equal width coloured green (hoist side), white (centre), and pink (on the fly). The design originated in the late 19th century with the Newfoundland Fishermen's Star of the Sea Association, an aid and benefit organization established in St. John's in 1871 by the Catholic Church. The flag was unofficial but the official banner of the association was a green background with a white star and a pink cross in the centre. The Star of the Sea is Polaris, the North Star, which was very important in navigation. Mary, mother of Jesus, is also known as Our Lady, Star of the Sea. While the colours were taken from the official banner of the association, the flag's design may have been influenced by the then unofficial Irish tricolour and or a local design (red at the hoist, white in the centre and green on the fly tricolour) which was used by the Newfoundland Natives' Society (NNS) from the mid 1800s. The NNS flag had fallen out of use since the demise of the society. With the introduction of the unofficial Labrador flag in March 1974 and the official change of the province's name to "Newfoundland and Labrador" in December 2001 the green white pink tricolour is generally considered to be the unofficial flag of the Newfoundland region of the province.

Historical evidence indicates that the "Pink, White and Green" flag first appeared in the late 1880s to early 1890s as the flag of the Roman Catholic fraternal group the Newfoundland Fishermen's Star of the Sea Association, which was formed in St. John's in 1871. It bears a strong resemblance to the Flag of Ireland, which first appeared in 1848 as an unofficial emblem for Ireland but did not enter wide use until 1916, but with the Protestant representation of the orange panel of King William of Orange removed and replaced by a pink panel; pink being a liturgical colour of the Roman Catholic church and was an official colour of the Star of the Sea Association.

A popular legend presented in the July 1976 issue of the Roman Catholic archdiocese's newsletter The Monitor is commonly (though erroneously) believed to present the origins of the flag. The legend tells that the flag was created in 1843 by Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming and is symbolic of a tradition between local Protestants and Catholics. The annual wood hauls of firewood by sealers, waiting for their vessels to leave the port of St. John's, would get embroiled in a competition to supply wood to the local Anglican cathedral, Roman Catholic cathedral, schools and other charity institutions. The Protestant English marked their wood piles with the rose flag of the Newfoundland Natives' Society, while the Catholic Irish used green banners. The threat of violence was such that the Speaker of the House, William Carson, suggested that Bishop Fleming should be enlisted as a peacemaker. Rather than simply preaching sermons, it was decided that Fleming would try to unite the sides. To that end, Bishop Fleming persuaded the two factions to adopt a common flag, tying together the rose and green flags of the two groups with a white handkerchief, which was to symbolize peace. The pink/rose colour is said to have symbolized the Protestant English since a rose (the Tudor rose) is the national floral emblem of England. This has been questioned as the Tudor Rose is actually red and white, not pink, while the green of the shamrock symbolized the mostly Catholic Irish. The white was taken from the Cross of St. Andrew, the patron saint of fishermen and Scotland. The local Newfoundland 'Bush borns' and 'Old Country' Irish borns were embroiled in rivalry to supply the biggest load of wood to the Roman Catholic Cathedral during the big yearly wood haul. There was argument over which group had the larger load and violence between them ensued. Upon hearing of this, Fleming induced them to join their pink and green wood slide markers together with neutral white being placed in between and thus was born the concept which eventually became the pink, white and green flag of the Star of the Sea fraternal association for Catholics. In this version of the story, pink similarly represented Newfoundland born Catholics, possibly members of a "natives" group, that were supplying wood to Fleming himself, with the Protestant English not included in the proceedings at all. Devine and O'Mara conceded that this story was based on oral tradition with no actual historical evidence to support it. Nevertheless, Howley was somewhat successful as many but not most Newfoundlanders accepted it as a national symbol of Newfoundland.

There is no historical evidence to support Bishop Fleming ever creating the pink, white and green flag. The first published record of the now popularly accepted legend was in a Catholic church archdiocese newsletter during the provincial flag debates of the 1970s, and was not presented as fact at that time. Available history indicates that the society actually used a tricolour flag of red, white and green, raising the speculation that it was this flag that symbolized peace between the Irish Catholics and English Protestants within the society since red and white was a more fitting representation of the red and white Tudor Rose of England, and the society itself being expressly non denominational. Despite the popular myth, the earliest historical evidence supporting the appearance of the "Pink, White, and Green" in Newfoundland points to at least 41 years after the first appearance of the then unofficial Irish tricolour flag and possibly as late as 60 years thereafter. Given this, its origin within a Roman Catholic fraternal group and the first public appearance of the colours in a centenary celebration of Daniel O'Connell's birth, the "Pink, White and Green" flag may have been based on the then unofficial Irish tricolour flag with the orange panel representing Protestant King William of Orange removed and replaced by pink being a liturgical colour of the Roman Catholic church and also an official colour on the banner of the Star of the Sea Association. The subsequent use of the "Pink, White and Green" by Catholic Irish groups in the St. John's area as a symbol of Newfoundland nationalism and opposition to confederation with Canada in the late 1800s further linked the flag to its Irish counterpart by analogy to Irish nationalists flying of the strikingly similar Irish tricolour in their resistance to union with Britain. Given the inaccuracy of The Monitor's 1976 legend and the heated debates in Newfoundland during the 1970s regarding the design of the new provincial flag, the current legend of the "Pink, White and Green" was likely propagated at that time in an attempt to gain Protestant (60% of the province's population) and province wide support for an Irish based flag, rather than the various Union Jack based designs being proposed at the time, but it is not supported as a factual account of history. From 1931 until confederation with Canada in 1949 the Union Jack was legislated as the national flag of Newfoundland, and then from 1952 until 1980 the Union Jack was readopted as the official flag of the province of Newfoundland. Ottawa's refusal to recognize the Union Jack as a unique representation of the province led to the provincial government seeking a new Newfoundland flag and the eventual adoption of Christopher Pratt's design as the Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador on May 28, 1980. The new flag's design was taken from markings on pendants worn hung from a cord around the neck by the indigenous Beothuck and Innu people. With the colours blue, white and red applied it has an intentional resemblance to the Union Jack it replaced.

Around the turn of the 20th century the "Pink White and Green" flag gained significant social and possibly commercial use, primarily by Roman Catholic groups in the St. John's and surrounding area. It remained controversial, however, as many Protestants did not accept it as their own flag, feeling that it was, in fact, a Roman Catholic/Irish nationalist flag. Bishop Michael Fleming, credited in popular legend as its creator was, in fact, a self fashioned leader of the Irish community in Newfoundland and pursued an "Irish nationalistic" agenda in taking on the local British establishment, even to the point of intervening to get particular men elected. thus further associating the flag with the Catholic Church and Irish nationalism in the eyes of many Protestants. Contrary to popular myth, photos from Government House during Murray's and Boyle's administrations and during the Prince of Wales visit to Newfoundland in 1860 show the Union Jack, the governmental ensigns, and various other flags being flown on ships in St. John's harbour, but not the "Pink, White and Green". This was in fact untrue, as Bartlett was never closer than 150 miles (241 km) from the pole, with Peary continuing on sled without Bartlett or his crew from there. The tricolour is said to have been flown alongside the Union Jack at Government House during the administrations of Boyle and Murray, See: Dominion of Newfoundland. It has been claimed that the colours of the flag were incorporated into the first public performance of Sir Cavendish Boyle's "Ode to Newfoundland" at the Casino Theatre in 1901, where a character resembling the Statue of Liberty clad in a flowing gown of vertical stripes of pink, white and green is said to have appeared on stage. The next day the colours appeared on the cover of the music sheet published by Boyle. a play in which the French character Marianne, bearing a strong resemblance to the Statue of Liberty, appears clothed in a tricolour gown of red, white and blue based on the French tricolour. The green white pink tricolour exists in Canadian heraldry. Its trice is present in the flag of the St. John's Fire Department. It also appears on the crest on some escutcheons or armorial bearings portrayed in the Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada. The tricolour had a resurgence in the province, particularly in the city of St. John's, and there was a popular movement to petition the province to give the flag official status. Premier Danny Williams announced in late 2005 that he would consider opening debate on the matter, and that he personally preferred the tricolour, but an informal poll commissioned in October 2005 by Williams showed that only 25% of Newfoundlanders supported adopting the tricolour with cost and the feeling that the colour pink would not be appropriate for the provincial flag being cited as the most popular reasons for rejection. The majority of support for the "Pink, White and Green" came from St. John's and surrounding Irish Shore area.

Beyond the aforementioned poem, the Newfoundland Tricolour is mentioned in songs and popular media. In the Tarahan song "Rebel Ship", which speaks about working towards an independent Republic of Newfoundland, it is stated that Newfoundland will only be free under "Fleming's Flag", ie the tricolour, and calls to raise "Pink, White and Green".