Flag of British Columbia Flag of British Columbia The flag of British Columbia is based upon the shield of the provincial arms of British Columbia. At the top of the flag is a rendition of the Royal Union Flag, defaced in the centre by a crown, and with a setting sun below, representing the location of the province of British Columbia at the western end of Canada. From 1870 to 1906, British Columbia was occasionally represented by a modified British blue ensign featuring various forms of the great seal of the Colony of British Columbia. The current flag of British Columbia was based upon
Flag of the United States this flag until 1777, when it would form the basis for the subsequent "de jure" designs. The name "Grand Union" was first applied to the Continental Colors by George Preble in his 1872 history of the U.S. flag. The flag closely resembles the British East India Company flag of the era, and Sir Charles Fawcett argued in 1937 that the company flag inspired the design. Both flags could have been easily constructed by adding white stripes to a British Red Ensign, one of the three maritime flags used throughout the British Empire at the time. However, an East India Company