A Victoria graphic designer says the flag soaring outside his home has been misrepresented in recent months, prompting him to create a sticker to help it return to its original glory.
“I was appalled by how our Canadian flag had been adopted and used in the wrong way. It became a symbol of action against the government, and I thought, ‘That’s not why we wave flags,’” said Victor Crapnell.
“We wave flags in happiness and support of our leaders,” he told Victoria Buzz.
Crapnell recalls flag-waving “Freedom Convoy” protests from earlier this year that saw crowds opposed to COVID-19 mandates storm Ottawa’s Parliament Hill.
It was a wave that eventually made its way across the country, including Victoria, where protesters gathered week after week out front of BC’s Legislature.
According to Crapnell, it bothered him “immensely” that people waved the Canadian flag to support an agenda he calls “ignorant and twisted.”
“It really started to bug me that if I put a flag on my car, would I be lumped in with these people? I’ve flown a flag in the front of our house for years, and my wife asked me, ‘Should we take our flag down?’”
“I said, ‘Absolutely not!’”
That’s when Crapnell took it upon himself to design a sticker featuring the Canadian flag crushing a semi-truck, paired with the words, “Canada—take back your flag”.
“I started this about one month ago. I initially had 100 stickers printed out,” said Crapnell.
“For the first two weeks, I thought, ‘Well, it’s really not getting much steam.’ But when Jack Knox recently ran an article in the Times Colonist, it just exploded.
“Things do have a slow burn to them at times, right?”
Crapnell says sticker inquiries have been coming in droves, noting he’s received hundreds of emails this week alone from people across Canada wanting a sticker of their own.
He’s asking people to reach out via takebackyourflag@gmail.com.
“People are offering donations to help me cover my costs, but to be clear, I’m not trying to make a profit here,” explained Crapnell.
“I just need my costs to be covered—the stickers cost me about $1 each, plus the postage. I’m just looking to recoup that.”
And while most of the feedback has been positive, some hate has poured in as well: “One guy phoned me early this morning and said, ‘If you want your flag back, you’ll have to take it off my cold dead body.’”
But Crapnell says he was expecting negative feedback.
“I’m not taking it personally.”
