A man in Musquash is protesting the Canadian flag by displaying it upside down, and has upset some neighbours in the process.

Ivan Morgan, 78, hangs four Canadian flags upside down on his fence, in plain view of the road, to deliberately show his disrespect for the Maple Leaf.

He said he believes the current flag does not represent the freedom and rights of Canadians.

"I want to show I don't have any use for the red Maple Leaf flag," said Morgan.

"When you see a red maple leaf, what do you see? A dead maple leaf. Canada is not dead. But a lot of the politicians running Canada are brain dead."

Ivan Morgan says he has no respect for the Maple Leaf, and believes the rightful flag is the old Red Ensign. (CBC) Morgan said the current flag was not the flag under which his father and grandfather fought in the Korean War and the two World Wars.

He said the rightful Canadian flag should be the Red Ensign, the flag used until 1965. Morgan said he is a former member of the armed forces.

Doesn't care what neighbours think

Neighbours have protested about his display of upside-down Canadian flags on a wire fence facing the South Musquash Road.

But Morgan said he does not care what people think and won't take the flags down.

James Irving, the grounds supervisor at Branch 69 of the Royal Canadian Legion in Saint John, said he understands why some people are still attached to the Red Ensign.

"He has a point because we left thousands of boys and girls, men and women overseas under the Union Jack. It was the flag they died for and died under," he said.

James Irving of the Royal Canadian Legion in Saint John believes most veterans would be 'utterly appalled' at Morgan's protest. (CBC) Irving said many older veterans respect the old flag but they also know that a lot of soldiers lost their lives under the new flag as well.

He said he thinks those veterans would not agree with Morgan's stance against the Maple Leaf flag.

"They would be utterly appalled," he said.

"For what we did in Afghanistan that's the flag they were under. So he is disrespecting the 183 boys and girls we brought home from Afghanistan, and Somalia, the three or four that passed away there. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, that's the flag they all went under."

Irving said the flags might end up hurting Morgan.

"Being a veteran myself I just have to look at it and say shame and sad. There is no point to it," he said.