TORONTO — The walls of the Sat Gupta’s flag store were once stocked with Canadian paraphernalia.
Key chains, lanyards, bandannas and, naturally, the red and white Maple Leaf.
But today, the Canadiana sits in boxes, pushed to one side of the narrow shop on Toronto’s Spadina Avenue, where five flag stores operate within a single city block.
Instead, precedence is being given to the 32 nations competing in the World Cup. Flags of soccer nations hang from every possible space on the walls of Gupta’s store, Pins N Flags.com Inc.
Gupta can barely keep up with the demand for World Cup flags.
“It has been pretty hectic,” Gupta said. “Everything else just doesn’t exist.”
In cities across the country, colourful flags have been heralding a diversity of patriotic sentiment that is somewhat unique to Canada.
As of 2006, 20 per cent of Canada’s population was foreign born, said Andre Lebel, a Statistics Canada demographer.
By 2031, he said, that number is expected to rise to between 25 to 28 per cent.
By comparison, Australia currently tops the chart with 25 per cent of its population coming from outside its borders. In the United States it’s 14 per cent.
Across the street from Gupta, at Flags International, owner Ramy Jaber said Canadian flags simply can’t compete when the World Cup comes around.
“It doesn’t even compare,” Jaber said.
During the Vancouver Olympics earlier this year, red and white was all the rage. Canadian athletes donned the Maple Leaf; adoring fans followed their lead.
From coast to coast to coast, the Maple Leaf was tops.
But by June, it was a mere accessory on cars otherwise completely outfitted in the colours of World Cup nations.
Arif Dewji, owner of House of Flags and Banners — a national distributor based in Vancouver and Toronto — said his company’s sale of World Cup flags has almost matched its sale of Canadian flags during the Olympics.
By boldly displaying their heritage, World Cup fans are actually celebrating Canada, Dewji said.
“It says that Canada is a very diverse and multicultural community,” he said.
“It’s part of their Canadian pride.”
When Mark Tymczyszyn started working at King of Flags, he had no idea how so many flag stores could survive in one small area of Toronto.
It didn’t take long for him to find out.
“This is the most multicultural city in the world,” he said.
For the 18-year-old University of Toronto student, being Canadian is a layered experience.
“You still have pride for your nation and what that represents,” he said.
“But you also have pride for your ethnicity and where you’re from.”
Italy, Portugal, Chile, and Brazil have been the top sellers at King of Flags.
But the flags of less popular soccer nations have also cruised along Canadian streets over the past month.
Ivory Coast. Ghana. Honduras. Algeria.
Spotting the unexpected countries is what Seth Feldman, director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at York University, loves most about the World Cup in Canada.
“You don’t expect to see as many Argentine flags as you do, or flags from the African countries, or Chilean flags, for that matter,” Feldman said.
“I always like that kind of mix that comes out of this.”
In Canada’s large urban centres, Feldman said, there is more of an openness to accept multiculturalism than there is in other western nations, such as the United States.
“You don’t feel like you’re betraying Canada by cheering for Italy or Argentina or Germany.”
There’s also a simple reason for the lack of Canadian flags flapping around now, Feldman said.
“It’s just something about Canada not qualifying for the World Cup,” he said.
“If Canada ever did, you’d see an awful lot of Canadian flags out.”