Ceremonial Dress Flag

• The National Flag of Canada
• Proportions and Description of the flag
• Birth of the Canadian flag
• The Making of the Canadian flag
• First "Canadian flags"
• Elements of the flag
• You were asking...
• Ceremonial Dress Flag
• Dipping the flag
• National Flag of Canada - Colour Specifications
• Pledge to the Canadian flag
• Half-masting of flags
• The Royal Union flag
• Commercial use of the flag
• Flag Etiquette in Canada
• Folding the National Flag of Canada

A ceremonial dress flag is a flag with a gold fringe around it. The size of the flag is in no way altered and should certainly not be altered.

From the standpoint of history and law, fringe on a flag has no symbolism. While each individual is free to interpret the meaning of fringe, it has no inherent or established universal symbolism.

While fringe is frequently used on military flags and in formal settings (parade, public meetings, offices of government officials, etc...), it is also widely used in the private sector.

Fringe is and always has been a purely decorative addition, an optional enhancement of the beauty of a flag, added on a discretionary bases when the flag is purchased. It is simply a matter of enhancing the appearance of the flag.

The Royal Proclamation on the National Flag of Canada neither prescribes nor proscribes the use of cords and tassels, heading, sleeve, fringe, and other accessories to the flag. It is universally recognized that the symbolic aspect of the flag is inherent in its colours and symbols, not in the physical characteristics of the flag or the things (like fringe) added to it when it is displayed.

Protocol does not demand that a dress flag be displayed, just like it does not prevent from being displayed. It is left to the discretion of the user. What protocol dictates however is that it should always be free (no writing, pinning etc.).