Within these covers is a study in flag history and symbolism published in 1980. This was a rendering into book form, with American spelling, of a 1975 thesis deposited with Canada's Library of Parliament. It had been discovered there by a Boston publishing house. Through the kindness of Auguste Vachon and the Public Archives of Canada a few pictures have been added. There is also one conclusive chapter by way of summation.
Questions continue to arise respecting the origins and the rationale of Canada's flag.
He was astonished to learn that Canada's flag had been developed entirely from tradition, that every decision in relation to the flag derived from precedent. Probably nothing worthwhile is completely new. We tend to build upon the past. Our innovations emerge from whatsoever has been developed before. Newness, indeed, in a coat of arms or a flag might well constitute a form of self denial.