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Rosemère, Quebec (Canada)

Laurentides

image by Masao Okazaki, 6 February 2022
based on image located by Dave Fowler, 31 January 2022

Municipality
Description of the flag

See also:

Municipality

Rosemère was hardly inhabited until 1880, when J.P. Withers, an officer of the Canadian Pacific Railway, settled in the place. Impressed by the abundance of wild roses, he coined the name Rosemère, built on "rose" and the old Anglo-Saxon word "mere", "a march", and got it registered in Ottawa. Served by the railway, Rosemère became a popular place of leisure. Influential families from Montreal built summer residences and organized regattas on Rivière des Mille Îles (Thousand Islands River, a channel of Ottawa River). A country club and a golf were established in 1920 and 1922, respectively. The famous Thoncliffe restaurant was exploited until destroyed by a blaze in 1982. The civil parish of Rosemère was established on 1 January 1947, separating from Sainte-Thérèse, to be elevated a town on 6 February 1958.

https://www.ville.rosemere.qc.ca
Town website
Ivan Sache, 12 February 2022

Description of the flag

The flag has the logo and name on a white field.
Dave Fowler, 31 January 2022

The logo is a revamping of the former one (dates not available). The smooth rose was kept as the central element to highlight Rosemère's natural and rural spaces. At its right, the apostrophe illustrates the concepts of safe blossoming and growth, and opens a dialogue with the grave accent of the "È".
The split of the rose in tow parts form a white counter-shaped "r" recalling the name of the town. The counter-shape can also illustrate Boulevard Curé-Labelle, which divides the town in two parts.
At the rose's left, the three waves represent Rivière des Mille Îles (Thousand Islands River, a channel of Ottawa River) feeding the flower. This moving water a source of vitality and natural balance, is a key element of Rosemère.
The navy blue color symbolizes water while recalling the excellent structure of the urban planning. The red color evokes dynamism, strength, courage and creative life. The association of the two colors highlights equity, justice and respect.

The smooth rose, aka prairie rose, meadows rose..., Rosa blanda Aiton) is one of the six rose species found in the wild in Quebec. The most frequent species in South Quebec, it is fund up to Bay James. The smooth rose is easily identified since it lacks thorns.
Rosa blanda was discovered in 1766 in Newfoundland by the British naturalist Joseph Banks (1743-1820). He brought back to England his own herbarium specimens and other, probably collected near Hudson Bay, which were formally described and named in 1789 by the taxonomist William Aiton (1731-1793).
In the early 2000s, the town of Rosemère and the Société d’horticulture et d’écologie de Rosemère searched a floral emblem for the town. Since the town was itself named for the abundancy of roses, Dr. Anne Bruneau, from the University of Montreal, was commissioned to survey the local population of wild roses. All of them belonged to the Rosa blanda species, which was proclaimed Rosemère's floral emblem in 2003.

https://www.ville.rosemere.qc.ca/logo-armoiries
Town website