Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador - Newfoundland Tricolour

Newfoundland Tricolour

An unofficial flag presented in recent years as the "Newfoundland Tricolour" or "Pink, White and Green" is the flag of the Roman Catholic fraternal organization the Star of the Sea Association. The flag has the proportions 2:1 with each stripe occupying equal thirds of the flag length. It exists in Canadian heraldry; its trice is present in the flag of the St. John's Fire Department and in the municipal flag of Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador. It also appears on the crests or escutcheons of some armorial bearings portrayed in the Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada.

The origins of the "Pink, White and Green" are obscure. Popular legend had it that it came into being in the 1840s, but recent scholarship suggests it was first used in the 1870s or later by the Roman Catholic fraternal organization the "Star of the Sea" association and became more widely used by other St. John's and surrounding area Catholic groups shortly thereafter. Given that, it was likely based on the similar flag of Ireland (then also unofficial). A "native flag" was displayed in public ceremonies alongside the Union Jack when the Prince of Wales visited St. John's in 1860, but that was likely a red, white and green flag rather than the "Pink, White and Green" as is commonly believed. The tricolour flag was superannuated as a potential officially recognized flag when the British Parliament legislated a civil ensign for Newfoundland in 1904, which was a Red Ensign defaced with the Great Seal of Newfoundland. During the provincial flag debates of the 1970s an edition of the Roman Catholic archdiocese's newsletter "The Monitor" forwarded the idea that the flag is symbolic of a tradition between local ethnically-English Protestants (represented by the rose colour) and ethnically-Irish Catholics (represented by the green). The vert was said to represent the flag of Brian Boru, the rose symbolized the Rose of England and the argent represented the peace between them, or the Cross of Saint Andrew. This legend is unlikely, however, as neither the Rose of England nor the Tudor Rose is pink, and the Newfoundland Natives' Society, which was claimed in the legend as being a Protestant society which used a pink flag, actually contained Catholics as well as Protestants, including a Catholic president at the supposed time of the inception of the "Pink, White and Green". Pink has never been used in any known fashion to represent England, its people or any of the Protestant denominations. In another version of the legend, originating around 1900, it was claimed that the green represented newly arriving Irish settlers to Newfoundland and pink was again taken from the Natives' Society flag, but this time the Natives' Society was said to be a Roman Catholic group representing Catholics already living in Newfoundland. Protestants were not included at all. The latest interpretation of the supposed symbolism of the "Pink, White and Green" seems to have arisen in the 1970s during provincial flag debates in Newfoundland as an effort to gain Protestant support for an Irish-based flag - Protestants representing 60% of the province's population - but it is unlikely to be a factual account of history. The flag gained a sentimental resurgence in the 1990s/2000s both as a political statement and on products aimed at the tourism industry.