FREDERICTON — Canada’s unofficial national colours will be on full display Monday as Canadians don patriotic T-shirts, wave hand-held flags and hang bunting to celebrate their country. But while the red-and-white flag for the most part unites Canadians, the colours’ meaning is open to interpretation.

Xavier Gelinas, a curator at the Canadian Museum of History, said there is no authoritative source that explains why the country drapes itself in red and white.