White Rock-based podcast host Matt Grant has been collecting signatures on his Canadian flag for the past two years. (Contributed photo)

A White Rock-based podcast host says his Canadian flag, which is signed by more than 800 people across the country, is a symbol of unity.

Matt Grant started asking people in 2017 to sign his Canadian flag, which he uses as a backdrop for his Facebook podcast, Matt TV.

Since then, the flag has travelled coast-to-coast, with the help of Canada Post, to be signed by fellow Canadians.

“I just started collecting signatures, then I aimed for 150 for Canada’s 150 birthday. Almost 24 months later we’re at over 800 signatures,” Grant told Peace Arch News this week.

Grant, who’s originally from the East Coast and hosts a podcast on general happenings in his life and shares his perspective, says a majority of the signatures are made by Atlantic Canadians.

“I’ll just mail it to them. They’ll get the flag, hang out with it for a bit, then I will perhaps get them to mail it to someone else,” Grant said.

Grant says he uses the flag as a backdrop for his podcast for patriotic reasons.

“The first thing was, I’m a proud Canadian,” Grant said. “You could never argue with me that there is a better place than this country right here.”

Ron MacLean’s and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s are two notable signatures on the flag, but the most significant, Grant said, is that of his friend Darren O’Donnell.

O’Donnell, Grant told PAN, had cancer five times before passing away in the past few weeks.

“His signature, and my sister, are like the most significant to me. I can stare at that flag for hours and just look at the names… you just instantly have a memory of that person.”

Peace Arch News