The Newfoundland Tricolour, or the Pink, White and Green, is an unofficial flag seen in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and is mistakenly believed to have been an official Flag of Newfoundland and Labrador, or more commonly, of the island of Newfoundland specifically.
Its proportions are 1:2 with three pales of equal width coloured green (hoist side), white (centre), and pink (on the fly). The design originated in the late 19th century with the Newfoundland Fishermen's Star of the Sea Association, an aid and benefit organization established in St. John's in 1871 by the Catholic Church. The flag was unofficial but the official banner of the association was a green background with a white star and a pink cross in the centre. The Star of the Sea is Polaris, the North Star, which was very important in navigation. Mary, mother of Jesus, is also known as Our Lady, Star of the Sea. While the colours were taken from the official banner of the association, the flag's design may have been influenced by the then unofficial Irish tricolour and or a local design (red at the hoist, white in the centre and green on the fly tricolour) which was used by the Newfoundland Natives' Society (NNS) from the mid 1800s. The NNS flag had fallen out of use since the demise of the society. With the introduction of the unofficial Labrador flag in March 1974 and the official change of the province's name to "Newfoundland and Labrador" in December 2001 the green-white-pink tricolour is generally considered to be the unofficial flag of the Newfoundland region of the province.
Origins
Historical evidence indicates that the "Pink, White and Green" flag first appeared in the late 1880s to early 1890s as the flag of the Roman Catholic fraternal group the Newfoundland Fishermen's Star of the Sea Association, which was formed in St. John's in 1871. It bears a strong resemblance to the Flag of Ireland, which first appeared in 1848 as an unofficial emblem for Ireland but did not enter wide use until 1916, but with the Protestant representation of the orange panel of King William of Orange removed and replaced by a pink panel; pink being a liturgical colour of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran and many other Christian denominations symbolizing a joyous celebration and was an official colour of the Star of the Sea Association.
Popular mythical origins
A popular legend presented in the July 1976 issue of the Roman Catholic archdiocese's newsletter The Monitor is commonly (though erroneously) believed to present the origins of the flag. The legend tells that the flag was created in 1843 by Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming and is symbolic of a tradition between local Protestants and Catholics. The annual wood hauls of firewood by sealers, waiting for their vessels to leave the port of St. John's, would get embroiled in a competition to supply wood to the local Anglican cathedral, Roman Catholic cathedral, schools and other charity institutions. The Protestant English marked their wood piles with the rose flag of the Newfoundland Natives' Society, while the Catholic Irish used green banners. The threat of violence was such that the Speaker of the House, William Carson, suggested that Bishop Fleming should be enlisted as a peacemaker. Rather than simply preaching sermons, it was decided that Fleming would try to unite the sides. To that end, Bishop Fleming persuaded the two factions to adopt a common flag, tying together the rose and green flags of the two groups with a white handkerchief, which was to symbolize peace. The pink/rose-colour is said to have symbolized the Protestant English since a rose (the Tudor rose) is the national floral emblem of England. This has been questioned as the Tudor Rose is actually red and white, not pink, while the green of the shamrock symbolized the mostly Catholic Irish. The white was taken from the Cross of St. Andrew, the patron saint of fishermen and Scotland.