We came across the following post on Twitter:
According to the rather profane tweet, Canada had redesigned their passport, which now features the LGBTQ pride flag. The tweet describes this as being an “absolute disgrace” and expresses bewilderment at the removal of Terry Fox and Vimy Ridge in favour of the flag. The previous passport had images present of both the Terry Fox and Vimy Ridge memorials, representing defining moments in Canada.
For context, Terry Fox was a Canadian activist who with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, embarked on an east-to-west cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Vimy Ridge on the other hand refers to a battle fought between Canadian and German forces in 1917. With the Canadian forces emerging victorious, the battle has since been cited as a symbol of Canadian national achievement and sacrifice.
LGBTQ flag or something else?
When we conducted a search on the claim, we found both a press release for the new passport design on the Government of Canada website and a video announcing the new design and features.
According to the release, “the new passport celebrates Canada’s heritage and identity with iconic images of Canada’s natural beauty throughout the four seasons”. Looking at the new Canadian passport then, the colours present on the inside cover appear to represent the four seasons, and not the pride flag which usually contains at least six colours, if not more.
An article from Reuters confirms the imagery representing the four seasons of Canada. According to Jeffrey MacDonald, a communications adviser at Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada: “The four colour palettes are reproduced throughout the booklet in each of the seasonal spreads. The violet or blue colour represents winter, green for spring, yellow for summer and red or orange for fall”.
The claim that the new Canadian passport design include the LGBTQ pride flag is thus false. The passport design does not feature the Pride flag, with the colours on the inside cover instead being representative of the four seasons.
