Capture the flag: how the convoy protests use Canada's most powerful symbol

On any normal day, Ottawa is dotted with Canadian flags — adorning federal buildings and topping the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill.

But the national symbol has been virtually everywhere in the city over the past few weeks. Protesters have literally wrapped themselves in the Maple Leaf during the anti-vaccine mandate demonstrations that have occupied the downtown core — demonstrations that police moved to end on Friday with dozens of arrests.

Protesters' use of symbols has been controversial since the convoy rolled into town roughly three weeks ago. Sightings of Confederate flags and swastikas were major events early in the protest. On Friday, the Manitoba Métis Federation condemned protesters' use of its flag.

After weeks of living with the protesters, many downtown residents say they can no longer see a Maple Leaf flag without a feeling of tension.

"I have my guard up immediately," one resident said, describing their feelings when they see someone carrying the flag in the street.

"Every time I see a Canadian flag now, you know, it's almost like you're embarrassed to be Canadian at the moment."

During the third weekend of the protests, some residents demanded that protesters remove Canadian flags from their vehicles before passing through a counter-protest blockade set up outside the city's downtown core.

Joel Harden, a provincial NDP MPP who was helping to manage that counter-protest, said that participants told him they felt the flag had been politicized and tarnished by its use in the protests.

"People feel like the Canada they want, the tolerant Canada, the inclusive Canada, has really been compromised in the last two weeks," he said. The fact that the flags were linked to reported episodes of protesters harassing locals just made it worse, he added.

"I'm not saying that speaks for every single protester, but the presence of those flags on those trucks, and some of those protesters doing those things, really unsettle people," he said.

"So, symbols matter to people. And I think it's fair to say that for a lot of counter-protesters, they felt an important symbol for them was violated."

Experts say the protesters' use of the Canadian flag amounts to an argument in the public square about what the flag means — and what Canada means.

"It's not so much what the flag symbolizes as the fact that the flag represents the nation. And than what does the nation symbolize?" said Peter Ansoff, an American vexillologist — someone who studies flags.

"It's really what the nation stands for that they're arguing about."