After 12 years, Marco gets his flag

Jeff Green | May 10, 2017

Marco Smits, the communication’s officer with Frontenac County, is also a proud transplanted Canadian of Dutch heritage. When he became a Canadian citizen in 2005, someone told him that the flag that is raised over the Peace Tower each day is only used for one day and is then given away. He looked into it and found out that Canadian Citizen’s could put in a request for one of the flags. So he wrote a letter to the appropriate Ministry, asking for a flag.

Then, he heard nothing, not even a confirmation that his letter had arrived.

12 years later, early in the new year, he received a notice from the Canadian goverment which began "In response to your letter dated May 2005 we are..." and two months later a package arrived in his mailbox, containing a flag and a letter from Judy Foote, the Minister of Procurement and Public Works, which said, in part, “it gives me great pleasure to provide you with the enclosed Canadian Flag, which flew over the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on March 29, 2017  ... the flag is also a symbol of what people of diverse faiths, cultures and linguistic backgrounds can accomplish, and is a reminder of the responsibilities that come with citizenship in our great country.

As you can see from the photo, it is a very large flag.

For anyone who thinks they might put their name in for a flag, there is good news and bad news. The good news is the application is now a very simple online form. All it asks is name, street, town and provincial address, postal code, phone number and email address. It’s as easy as the short form census.

The bad news is that a lot of people have taken the 60 seconds required to fill in the form and it will take a long time for the flag to arrive.  The estimate noted on the website is 63 years. Don’t want to wait that long? Other parliamentary flags are available. They are smaller, 4.5’ by 9’ as opposed to the  7.5’ x 15’ Peace tower flag but the wait is shorter, only 50 years.

As for Marco, he’s happy to have his flag.

“I’m proud to receive this flag and I do consider it a reminder of the responsibilities that come with citizenship in this great country.”

One of those responsibilities now includes flying the flag and that might not be so easy.

“I do have another challenge ahead of me and that is how to fly it,” he said, “the minimum recommended height for the flag pole is 45 to 50 feet!”