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Dorval, Quebec (Canada)

image by Arnaud Leroy, 25 July 2007
Source: city hall

City flag

See also:

City flag

I took a photo of a slightly different version of this flag in 1999 in a Montreal Urban Community building. The arms were placed on a white disk. Beaudoin reports two other versions.

Reference: François Beaudoin, Symboles de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal, Vexilla Belgica, 1982.

Luc Baronian, 9 May 2005

The City of Dorval (19,013 inhabitants; 2,064 ha) is located on Montreal Island. The Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport, known until 2004 as the Dorval Airport, is located on the municipal territory. Dorval was founded in 1667, as Gentilly, by missionaries of the Society of Saint-Sulpice. The settlement was renamed Présentation de la Vierge Marie in 1668 by Priest François Salignac de Fénelon. In 1691, the domain of La Présentation, originally owned by Pierre Le Gardeur de Repentigny, was acquired by Jean-Baptiste Bouchard d'Orval. Dorval was eventually incorporated as the Village of Dorval in 1892. Dorval became a Town in 1903, a City in 1956, a district of Montreal in 2002, this being reverted to City in 2006.

The flag of Dorval, adopted by the City Council in 1983 as the "only official flag of the municipality", is red with a white disk charged with the municipal arms, the disk surmounted with "DORVAL" written in yellow letters.

The arms of Orval are "Quarterly, 1. and 4. Gules a lion argent holding a Patriarchal Cross or, 2. and 3. Or three bends vert an eagle displayed sable armed and beaked gules. The shield supported by leaved branches of maple proper crossed per saltire and tied by a ribbon gules holding a scroll or inscribed 'EGO PORTA MUNDI' in letters sable. The shield surmounted by a seven-towered mural crown or."

The eagle comes from the arms of the Fénelon* family, recalling the priest who founded the settlement. The eagle also symbolizes the Dorval Airport. It represents strength, majesty and power. The three bends vert on or symbolize loyalty, generosity and glory. The lion a symbol of pugnacity and force, comes from the arms of Pierre Le Gardeur de Rentigny, first owner of the domain. The Patriarchal Cross is the symbol of the Christian religion. The stylized crown represents the Kingdom of France and; also, the fort protecting La Présentation. The maple leaves represent Canada. Green is the color of nature, youth and optimism. Red is the symbol of justice, courage, heroism and force used to defend just causes. The motto (I am the Gate of the World), as the eagle, recalls the Dorval Airport.
- http://www.ville.dorval.qc.ca/fr/default.asp?contentID=683 - Municipal website

*The Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon family indeed bore "Or three bends sinople". The aforementioned description must have been mixed up; most probably, the eagle symbolizing the airport was added to the original Fénelon arms.

François Salignac de Fénelon (1641-1679), the founder of Dorval, came from a noble family from Périgord (south-west of France). He had a quarrel with the Count of Frontenac, Governor of Quebec, who had disliked one of his sermons, and was banished from Canada in 1675. He was a half-brother of François-Armand Salignac de la Mothe Fénelon (1651-1715), better known as, simply, Fénelon. Ordained priest in 1675 by the Society of Saint-Sulpice, Fénelon was appointed in 1689 tutor of Louis of France, Duke of Burgundy (1682- 1712), Louis XIV's grandson. Fénelon wrote for educational purpose "Les aventures de Télémaque". Elected at the French Academy, Fénelon was appointed Archbishop of Cambrai in 1695, therefore its nickname, "The Cambrai Swan". The publication of "Les aventures Télémaque" on 1699 caused the wrath of Louis XIV, who interpreted the book as a sour satire of his regime; accordingly, Fénelon was banished from the Versailles Court and confined in Cambrai for the rest of his life.
- http://jm.ouvrard.pagesperso-orange.fr/armor/fami/s/salignac_fenelon.htm -Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon genealogy, by J.M. Ouvrard

Ivan Sache, 23 July 2012