The shield is divided into four quarters, consisting of the coats of arms of England, Scotland, Ireland and the Kingdom of France, the four founding nations of Canada.

"[6] An 1891 memo from the Governor General, Lord Stanley, stated: "the Dominion Government has encouraged by precept and example the use on all public buildings throughout the provinces of the Red Ensign with the Canadian badge on the 'Fly.

Various versions of the Red Ensign continued to be flown on land and the flag featured prominently in patriotic displays and recruiting efforts during the First World War.

However, in the late 19th and early 20th century, flag manufacturers would often supplement this design with wreaths of laurel and oak leaves and crowns.

The design was frequently placed on a white background square, circle or roughly following the outline of the arms in the flag's fly (right hand side assuming the flagpole to be on the left).

[7] The Canadian Red Ensign, through history, tradition and custom was finally formalized on 5 September 1945, when the Governor General of Canada signed an Order-in-Council (P.C.

In Otto Reinhold Jacobi's painting of the new Parliament Buildings in 1866, a Red Ensign flies from the tower of the East Block.

[13][9] Though much less common than either the Maple Leaf or modern provincial flags, the several versions of the Canadian Red Ensign continue to be flown today both in official and unofficial capacities.

These include the Aryan Guard, the founder of the Canadian Nazi Party, white nationalist leader Paul Fromm,[15] and the five members of the Proud Boys who disrupted an indigenous protest on Canada Day in July 2017.

[15][16] The flag's appropriation by white supremacists has produced an outcry from several groups, including the Royal Canadian Legion, the Canadian Centre for the Great War, and the editor of the history journal The Dorchester Review, who have expressed the view that "trivializing, or treating as a kind of talisman of defiance, a flag that has a much more venerable and mainstream role" is not right and "flies in the face of what the Red Ensign means".

[15] Before the adoption of the new arms of Canada in 1921, flag makers made the badge larger each time a new province joined Confederation.

At the opening ceremony of the 1936 Olympic Games, a variant of the 1922–1957 red ensign with the arms inside a white disc was carried by Canadian Olympian and flag bearer James Worrall.

However, the normal version of the red ensign without the disc was hoisted alongside the other national flags that surrounded the perimeter of the stadium.

The Red Ensign, however, retained broad sympathy including amongst many who desired a distinct national flag for Canada.

Otto Reinhold Jacobi included a red ensign flying from the East Block in his 1866 painting of the Parliament Buildings.