‘A surge of pride’: How a local club is helping others with proceeds of Canadian patriotism

A central Alberta organization is using Canadian pride to help others. CTV News Edmonton's Marek Tkach reports.

According to a recent Angus Reid Institute survey, national pride is on the rise – and it’s helping a local club do more to help others in other countries.

John Carle, a member of the Rotary Club of St. Albert, runs the organization’s flag program and said this year is shaping up to be one of the best.

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The program, which costs $63 a year, sees the club deliver and install Canadian flags at people’s homes for a week at a time for the Victoria Day, Canada Day and Labour Day long weekends.

“People just get really excited to see them. And it’s just a great patriotic thing that raises money for our club,” Carle said.

The program has been running for upwards of 15 years. Carle said interest dipped after the COVID-19 pandemic but is bouncing back in a big way.

“The convoy has definitely affected people’s opinion of our flag, but everyone’s right back in it,” he added. “There’s great patriotism out there right now, which really makes people want to have that flag on their lawn.

“And we’re just so appreciative for the community support.”

More than 600 flags are going up on local lawns this year, raising about $36,000 for charitable Rotary Club programs like international education and vaccination campaigns.

“Being able to tie the patriotism of our Canada flag with the great stuff that we do locally and internationally, it’s just awesome,” Carle said.

Joe Roe, a research associate at the Angus Reid Institute, said the institute has been tracking national pride since 2016.

In December, the number of people who said they were proud or very proud to be Canadian had dipped to 58 per cent. That was up to 79 per cent in June.

“In the wake of Donald Trump’s threatening of the 51st state, there’s been somewhat of a surge of nationalism and a surge of pride,” Roe said. “It’s somewhat bounced back to the point where now more Canadians are saying they’re proud to live in Canada.”

In Alberta, the sentiment is lower with just 56 per cent saying they were proud or very proud Canadians. Only Quebec was lower, at 54 per cent.

“With a lot of criticism in Alberta for the Liberal government … I think there’s a lot of people here that are maybe a little bit more pessimistic about the direction the country is going and I think that plays into the pride as well,” Roe explained.

St. Albert resident Rudy Steinke falls into the 56 per cent and will be sporting a Rotary Club flag this weekend.

“Canada is the best country there is, so why would we not, you know?” Steinke said. “When you see what’s happening in the rest of the world, and you look (at) the kind of life that we live here and everything else, there is no life better than ours.

“So it’s a good, good country.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton Marek Tkach