Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador

The Red Ensign was officially endorsed by King Charles II in 1674; this authorisation recognised it as the ensign of English merchant shipping. Later, during the Victorian era, the flag—with colonial badge—formed the basis as the Colony of Newfoundland's civil ensign. Old oil paintings show red ensigns flying from the topmasts of Grand Banks schooners. While 19th century photographs show red ensigns flown at Moravian mission stations and Hudson's Bay Company trading posts along the Labrador Coast.

In 1904, the British Parliament designated a civil ensign specifically for Newfoundland. The Red and Blue Ensigns with the Great Seal of Newfoundland in the fly were the colony's (later dominion)'s official flags from 1904 until 1931, after which the Union Jack was adopted as Newfoundland's official national flag and the ensigns reserved for shipping and marine identification—the Red Ensign to be flown by merchant shipping while the blue was flown by governmental ships.[2] Neither ensign was immediately formally adopted by the Newfoundland National Assembly, which sat at the Colonial Building in St. John's, when Newfoundland became an independent Dominion of the British Empire in 1907. It was not until the Newfoundland National Flag Act of 1931 that the Newfoundland parliament officially adopted the Union Jack as the national flag of Newfoundland and re-affirmed the red and blue ensigns as official flags for marine identification. Between 1907 and 1931, however, the red ensign gained wide enough use, both at sea and on land by civilians and government alike, that it was considered to be the national flag.[3]

The badge in the ensigns consists of Mercury, the god of commerce and merchandise, presenting to Britannia a fisherman who, in a kneeling attitude, is offering the harvest of all the sea. Above the device in a scroll are the Latin words 'Terra Nova', and below the motto Hæc Tibi Dona Fero or "These gifts I bring thee." The seal was redesigned by Adelaine Lane, niece of Governor Sir Cavendish Boyle.

The old flag of Newfoundland was the Union Flag. It was legally adopted in 1931 and used as Newfoundland's national flag until confederation with Canada in 1949. It was then readopted as the official provincial flag in 1952 and used officially until 1980. The Newfoundland and Labrador branches of the Royal Canadian Legion to this day display the Union Flag along with the current Newfoundland and Labrador provincial and national (Canada maple leaf) flags.

The flag which has become known as the "Newfoundland Tricolour", the "Pink, White and Green" (sic) began as the unofficial flag of an aid and benefit organization, the Newfoundland Fishermen's Star of the Sea Association, which was established in St. John's in 1871 by the Catholic Church. The official banner of the association was a green background with a white star and a pink cross in it. These colours gave rise to the green (at the hoist) white (in the centre) and pink (on the fly) tricolour flag which was more easily manufactured than the official banner. The flag has the proportions 1:2 with each vertical section occupying one-third of the flag length.

It exists in Canadian heraldry; its colours are present in the flag of the St. John's Fire Department and in the municipal flag of Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador. It also appears on the crests or escutcheons of some armorial bearings portrayed in the Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada. The first but unofficial flag of the Colony of Newfoundland (Island and Labrador) was the Red (at the hoist), White (centre) and Green (on the fly) tricolour of the Newfoundland Natives' Society (NNS) which was established in St. John's in 1840 with subsequent branches in other locations. The Newfoundland Natives' Society was established to help native-born and other long-time residents of Newfoundland in dealings with colonial government officials, big business owners who were not always residents and the many newcomers to the colony who considered themselves to be much higher in social standing than the locals even though the vast majority of locals were of the same British Isles ancestry as the new arrivals. The red-white-green tricolour served as the unofficial national flag of Newfoundland from the mid to late 1800s. It fell into disuse after the Society stopped functioning in 1866. Responsible Government was established in 1855 and with it the need for the NNS waned. The NNS had campaigned for the introduction of Responsible Government.

The flag of the Fédération des Francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador is based on the French tricolour and Acadian flag, with three unequal panels of blue, white, and red. Two yellow sails are set on the line between the white and red panels. The sail on top is charged with a black spruce twig as seen on the Labrador flag. The black (bog) spruce is Newfoundland and Labrador's official provincial tree. The bottom sail is charged with a pitcher plant, the official provincial flower of Newfoundland and Labrador. These emblems are outlined in black.

The sails represent early Basque, Breton, and French fishermen that came to the area in the early 1500s. At the same time, they are symbols of action and progress. The yellow is taken from the star of the Acadian flag. The black spruce and pitcher plant are official symbols of Newfoundland and Labrador. The black spruce twig on the flag of the Federation des Francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador is an emblem of Labrador and is also found on the Labrador flag. The flag's colours of red, white, blue and yellow are also found in the provincial flag of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Labrador Flag was created by a small group led by Member of the House of Assembly for Labrador South Mike Martin in 1974. Martin et al did so as an act of political mischief aimed at Premier Joey Smallwood and his Liberal government's perceived indifference to Labrador and the provincial government's refusal to use anything other than the Union Jack as the provincial flag. The Labrador flag gave, at least, that part of the province its own distinctive flag. As Martin is from Cartwright, the town now proclaims itself the "Birthplace of the Labrador Flag". The flag was presented to Labrador community councils, and to the Labrador members of the House of Assembly, in April 1974 and is six years older than provincial flag of Newfoundland and Labrador which was introduced in 1980 by the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Brian Peckford.

The self-governing Inuit region of Nunatsiavut has its own flag: The flag of Nunatsiavut is the flag adopted by the Labrador Inuit Association to represent the Inuit of Labrador and their new Land Claims Settlement Area called Nunatsiavut. The flag features the traditional Inuit Inukshuk coloured white, blue, and green echoing the flag of Labrador.

• Symbols of Newfoundland and Labrador
• Coat of arms of Newfoundland and Labrador

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador.

• Some Personal Observations And Some Historical Facts About The Labrador Flag (Carl S. Gurtman, 1996, New England Journal of Vexillology)
• Arms and flag of Newfoundland and Labrador in the online Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges