Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol: Round 1— Provincial

Historically, a society's most important symbols often started with a concrete purpose. 

"The need to authenticate documents is when we start to see great seals representing particular governments," said Forrest Pass, a curator at Library and Archives Canada.

"You need a means of distinguishing soldiers on one side from soldiers on the other, and that's when we start to see coats of arms and badges and flags."

British Columbia's flag was created in 1960, but its history goes much further than that. It derives from its coat of arms, which was designed in 1895, and features a Union Jack on one half and a setting sun against the ocean waves on the other. 

"The persistence of imperial British emblems seems to loom larger and last longer in British Columbia than other parts of Canada," said Pass, noting it goes right to the very name of the province itself.

"In all cultures, all communities, symbols are contested and a source of debate. And perhaps certain symbols have been even more contested in B.C. than they have been elsewhere in the country." 

British Columbia's flag is arguably its most "official" symbol, and the one used most to define where we are.

But is it our best symbol?

What will advance to Round 2?

In the Search for B.C.'s Best Symbol, the flag is one of 16 symbols we included in the provincial section of the competition. It includes other provincial graphic designs (highway signs and "N" license plate stickers), regional signifiers (Ogopogo and Okanagan wine), images associated with the West Coast more than others in Canada (umbrellas and logging trucks), and much more.

Voting will take place over several weeks. A series of one-on-one matchups will narrow the number of symbols from 64 to 32, 32 to 16, and eventually down to one champion:

• Animals (voting takes place on Mondays).
• Nature (voting takes place on Tuesdays).
• Coastal (voting takes place on Wednesdays).
• Provincial (voting takes place on Thursdays).

While the Union Jack is the part of the flag that serves as the strongest link to British Columbia's past, Pass thinks the other half of the flag is just as noteworthy.

"The flag is so bright and the sun is so recognizable," he said. "Symbols that are so specific to a region and particular place do help them to resonate."

Voting is open until 10 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday.