A red-and-white flag has flown over the courthouse in Perth, Ontario since 1965 — the same flag that flies over post offices and municipal halls in every small town of this country. The man who designed it lived a few streets away from that courthouse for most of his working life.

His name was John Ross Matheson.

The road to Perth.

He was born in Arundel, Quebec, on November 14, 1917 — the son of a Presbyterian minister who moved his family from parish to parish across eastern Ontario and western Quebec.

Matheson went to Queen’s University in Kingston, joined the army when the Second World War began, and served with the Royal Canadian Artillery.

In the Italian campaign at Ortona, a shell fragment struck him in the head. He nearly died. He recovered slowly and returned to Canada, retired as a colonel, and finished law school at Osgoode Hall.

He settled in Brockville, opened a law practice, and began to build a life in politics.

The flag.

In 1961, Matheson was elected the Liberal Member of Parliament for the federal riding of Leeds.

Four years later, Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson made him parliamentary secretary and gave him a job: build the multi-party committee that would design a new Canadian flag.

The committee met for months. Hundreds of designs were submitted from across the country. Matheson brought his background in heraldry to the work — he had studied Canadian coats of arms since childhood, and he cared about the details.

A suggestion came from George Stanley, dean of arts at the Royal Military College in Kingston. Stanley proposed a single Maple Leaf between two red bars, inspired by RMC’s own flag.

Matheson fought for it. Committee vote after committee vote, he lobbied colleagues to unify around the single-leaf design. In October 1964, the committee voted unanimously in its favour. Parliament passed it. On February 15, 1965, the Maple Leaf flag rose for the first time on Parliament Hill.

Matheson watched it rise.

The Order of Canada.

Matheson also conceived the concept for the Order of Canada, established in 1967. He designed it to recognize Canadians of merit across every field — soldier, artist, teacher, athlete, scientist, mother.

He called it his second gift to the country.

Home became Perth.

Matheson lost his seat in the 1968 election. He came home to eastern Ontario and, in 1969, was appointed a judge of the District Court of Ontario.

He chose to sit in Perth.

He moved his family to the small town in the Rideau country of stone houses and maple bush. He heard cases from the Perth bench for the next twenty years. He walked to the courthouse. He was in the audience at Legion events. He was someone’s neighbour.

The flag he had fought through committee now flew over the same courthouse where he heard local disputes.

Clark vs Clark.

In 1982, he presided over a case that changed Canadian disability rights forever. Justin Clark was a 20-year-old man with severe cerebral palsy whose parents wanted him declared mentally incompetent — a ruling that would have prevented him from moving into an Ottawa group home to live independently.

The case was heard in the Perth courthouse.

Clark testified from the witness stand using a Bliss board — a communication tool with symbols and letters — the first time such a device had ever been used in a Canadian courtroom.

Matheson ruled that Justin Clark was mentally competent to make his own decisions.

The ruling is regarded today as a pivotal moment in the Canadian disability rights movement.

The flag still flies.

Matheson retired from the bench in the late 1980s. A Heritage Minute now bears his name. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

He died in Kingston, Ontario, on December 27, 2013, at age 96.

But the flag he designed still flies over the Perth courthouse where he heard cases for twenty years — the same flag that flies over post offices and municipal halls in every small town of this country.

Photo by House of Commons – Original publication: official portraitImmediate source: https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/Profile?personId=4552, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79522420