ALBERTA, FLAG OF

Canadian provincial flag consisting of a blue field (background) with the provincial coat of arms in the centre. The crest includes (from bottom to top) the typical wheat fields of the province, rough prairie land, foothills, and finally the Rocky Mountains under a blue sky. At the very top of the shield is the red Cross of St. George, recalling the English settlement of the region. In 1905 Alberta became a Canadian province, and a naturalistic scene was proposed for its new coat of arms. The design was not immediately accepted, however, because of objections by the College of Arms (the English body to which Canada deferred most heraldic matters in that era). On May 30, 1907, the design was established by royal warrant. In anticipation of the centennial of Canadian confederation, petitions were submitted in November 1966 to Premier Ernest Charles Manning by the Social Credit Women's Auxiliaries of the Alberta Social Credit League, calling for a distinctive Alberta flag. Approved as the provincial banner (for use everywhere except on public buildings) on January 17, 1967, the new design consisted of the shield of the province on a plain blue background, whose symbolism was not explained. This centennial flag was subsequently made the official provincial flag by the legislature on June 1, 1968. The design of the coat of arms is attributed to Mrs. H. MacCully; it was augmented in a royal warrant dated July 30, 1980, by a crest, motto, and supporters. Those design elements were not added to the flag, however. Whitney Smith History The area now known as Alberta has been inhabited by various Indian groups for at least 10,000 years. European explorers first appeared in the 1750s as the fur trade expanded across western North America. Two rivals, the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, began building trading posts in the last quarter of the 18th century along the major northern rivers, most notably the Athabasca, North Saskatchewan, and Peace. From 1821, when the companies merged, until 1870, when this region was transferred to the Dominion of Canada, the Hudson's Bay Company controlled and governed the area, which was populated by Indians, the Mtis, and a few European fur traders, missionaries, and settlers. After 1870, settlement in southern Alberta began, based on a ranching economy. The Indian tribes had been decimated by European diseases and the disappearance of the buffalo, their main source of livelihood. The signing of treaties relegated the remaining Indians to reservations, but not before the abuses of unscrupulous whiskey traders had hastened the creation of the North West Mounted Police. In 1874 they established Fort Macleod and laid the bases of Canadian law enforcement in Alberta. The Dominion Lands Act of 1872, which provided low-cost homesteads, the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which reached Calgary in 1883, and vigorous promotional campaigns brought an influx of settlers from eastern Canada, the United States, and Europe. By 1901 the population had reached 73,000, and by 1911 it had ballooned to 374,000. The development of earlier-maturing and more disease-resistant varieties of wheat made crop farming less risky and, in northern areas, newly feasible. Subsequently a wheat-based economy expanded throughout most of the arable parts of the province. Responsible government developed gradually from 1875, when the North West Territories Act went into effect, until 1897, when a fully responsible legislative assembly was elected. Made a district of the Northwest Territories in 1882, Alberta was enlarged to its present boundaries in 1905 when it was made a province of Canada, although crown lands and natural resources remained under federal control until 1930. Edmonton, as the capital and distribution centre, grew rapidly, as did other urban centres. Calgary boomed with the discovery of oil at Turner Valley in 1914. Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, the latter a coal-mining area since 1869, developed into large distribution centres. Railways spread over most of the province, increasing agricultural development and providing a ready market for the province's vast coal deposits. During World War I the growth of population and the economy slowed. A postwar slump in wheat prices was a major factor leading to agrarian political discontent and the election success of the United Farmers Party of Alberta in 1921. During the 1920s the economy improved and population again increased, but the depression of the 1930s had a devastating effect. In 1935 the Social Credit Party, with a new monetary policy, was elected and retained power for 36 years. The discovery of oil at Leduc in 1947, as well as discoveries of other oil and natural gas deposits, brought Alberta prosperity that lasted until the world drop in oil prices brought on the recession of the early 1980s. The Progressive Conservative Party, which took power in 1971, continued to govern Alberta into the 1990s. Robert Bruce Davidson