After all the waiting, longing, and hoping for a gold medal to be won on Canadian soil, it has already happened three times in the first week of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, B.C.

All told, the Canadian flag has been hoisted above the medal podium seven times, with three silver medals and a bronze factored into the mix.

So this seems as good a time as any to take a look back at 1964 with this week’s Heritage Minute and see the origins of the Canadian flag we know and love.

“The creation of a new flag stirred a national debate. Many Canadians were strongly attached to the Red Ensign, the British Union Jack and Canadian coat-of-arms on a red field. It had been used, officially and unofficially, for generations. For many veterans and their families, it was the banner under which Canada had gone to war,” Historica Dominion writes.

This week’s Heritage Minute comes from the perspective of John Matheson, a Member of Parliament who was on the committee to choose a new flag that would symbolize Canada. It took 41 meetings spent sifting through some 2,000 designs to come up with the final result, a single red maple leaf on a white background with two red bars on either side. It was voted on December 1964 and Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed it on Jan. 28, 1965.

Heritage Minutes are 60-second short films that are shown in between some TV shows in Canada — and they’re amazing. We’re planning to bring you a “Heritage Minute” every Thursday on COTW.

Enjoy.