RATIONALE: Regional Flag Design and Branding
The city and municipality of Iqaluit is the capital of Canada’s newest territory, Nunavut. While this part of the world is very desolate and isolated in many ways, it has its own unique beauty, which has been attempted to be captured within the design of this flag.
The three colours chosen – dark blue, light blue and Canadian flag red – all symbolize different elements of this municipality.
Dark Blue: Symbolizes the water, the extremely long nights in the winters, and the vast, dark skies.
Light Blue: Symbolizes the ice and the light skies during the summer, when there is daylight almost all night – “the land of the midnight sun.”
Red: Symbolizes Canada, specifically calling back to the Nunavut flag and the red Inuksuk that is symbolic of Canada.
The shapes of the icons in the flag are symbolic of many aspects of Iqaluit. The upper area echoes the undulating patterns of the Northern Lights that are emblematic of the northern regions. The bottom shape represents the vibrant sea life – Iqaluit means “place of many fish” – and the waves of the water that surrounds the land.
The three dots represent the three groups that signed the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement, in Iqaluit on May 25, 1993: the Government of Canada (red dot), the Government of the Northwest Territories (dark blue dot, calling back to their flag), and the Tunngavik Federation of Nunavut (light blue dot).
The united shapes form a circle, a strongly symbolic shape in the Inuit culture. The phrase “everything tries to be round” is a common saying, and it symbolizes the “one great spirit”. Circles also relate to the rotating seasons and the circle of life as a whole, which is deeply embedded within the Inuit culture.
The circle is also divided, speaking to the complementary balance of light and dark, good and evil, hot and cold. It is considered a positive symbol, representing balance and harmony (Partridge, 2013).
The emblem is placed in the middle third of the flag, creating a simple, yet balanced and symmetrical, design.
Partridge, C. (2013) Introduction to World Religions (2nd ed.). Dorset, England: Fortress Press
All photographic materials used are either in the public domain or are used under the educational Fair Dealing exemption in Canadian copyright law.
