Choiseul On The Move

 

JULIEN WON AGAIN. SAINT LUCIA'S FLAG LOST AGAIN. WHEN WILL WE GET THIS RIGHT?

There are some things a country should not have to keep explaining.

What its national flag looks like is one of them.

On Friday night in Brussels, Julien Alfred once again gave Saint Lucians every reason to stand tall. She stormed to victory in the women's 200 metres at the Wanda Diamond League Final in 21.79 seconds, winning her third consecutive Diamond League title.

Another international stage. Another Saint Lucian victory.

And then came something that should make those responsible for protecting and properly representing our national symbols uncomfortable.

As Julien celebrated, the Saint Lucia flag handed to her appeared in the wrong shade of blue.

Not our distinctive cerulean blue.

And before somebody dismisses this as people making noise over "just a colour", Choiseul on the Move decided to look into the history of this issue.

What we found makes the situation even more embarrassing.

THIS PROBLEM DID NOT START IN BRUSSELS

The Government of Saint Lucia itself is very clear about the colour of our flag.

The official government description identifies the background as cerulean blue. That colour has meaning. According to the Government, it represents fidelity and reflects our tropical sky and the waters of the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

This is therefore not a matter of somebody preferring light blue over dark blue.

There is an official flag.

There are official proportions.

There are official colours.

There is even an official code of etiquette governing how that flag should be treated and displayed. The Government's own guidance says the flag should be of "regulation appearance."

So how difficult can it be to get this right?

Apparently, very difficult.

Because we found evidence that the Government was trying to deal with incorrect representations of the Saint Lucia flag more than 20 years ago.

In October 2003, a Government Information Service publication addressed concerns about the various representations of the National Flag appearing on souvenirs and memorabilia.

The Government specified the official colours, including Cerulean Blue, Process Cyan 100%, along with light chrome yellow, black and white. It also published the correct dimensions for pole flags, hand flags, desk flags and casket flags.

Think about that for a moment.

2003.

The authorities knew there was a problem.

The authorities published specifications to correct the problem.

And here we are in 2026, still looking at questionable versions of our flag on the international stage.

That is 23 years later.

THE WARNING CAME AGAIN

In 2015, engineer John Peters wrote publicly about the problem in an article appropriately titled "After 36 Years – Time To Get It Right!"

He pointed directly to the prevalence of flags being produced with incorrect colours and geometry and referred to the Government's earlier attempt at standardisation.

So this was no secret.

People were seeing it.

People were writing about it.

Government knew about it.

Yet the problem continued.

THEN CAME MISS UNIVERSE

Fast-forward to 2024.

Saint Lucia's Miss Universe representative Skye Faucher appeared in a national costume honouring Julien Alfred.

It was a beautiful idea.

But what became part of the public discussion?

The colour representing the Saint Lucia flag.

Media reports at the time recorded criticism from Saint Lucians who questioned the dark blue used in the costume and asked who had approved it for an international appearance.

There again was the same issue.

The shade of blue.

The representation of our national flag.

The question of who approves what is presented internationally as Saint Lucian.

And now in 2026, Julien Alfred wins one of the biggest athletics competitions in the world and we are having the discussion AGAIN.

HOW MANY TIMES MUST THIS HAPPEN?

At some point we have to stop calling these things mistakes.

A mistake happens once.

When an issue has been publicly identified for more than two decades and keeps resurfacing, we are dealing with a failure of systems.

And this is where Choiseul on the Move believes some serious questions must be answered.

Who is the official custodian of the digital master artwork and colour specifications for the Saint Lucia National Flag?

Who provides international sporting organisations with Saint Lucia's official flag artwork?

When Julien Alfred competes at a Diamond League event, World Championship, Olympic Games or any other major international competition, does the Saint Lucia Athletics Association provide the organisers with an approved national flag file?

Does the Saint Lucia Olympic Committee?

Does the Ministry responsible for Sports?

Does the Protocol and Consular Division of the Ministry of External Affairs have any role in ensuring that organisations overseas have the correct national symbols?

Or are we simply trusting somebody overseas to search the internet for "Saint Lucia flag" and use whatever file comes up?

Because if that is what is happening, that needs to stop.

SOMEBODY MUST OWN THIS RESPONSIBILITY

It would be unfair to simply blame the Diamond League without establishing where the incorrect flag originated.

The Brussels organisers may have sourced it themselves. They may have received artwork from another organisation. We do not yet know.

But Saint Lucia cannot keep leaving this to chance.

Our Protocol and Consular Division already exists to manage important elements of Saint Lucia's official international representation and protocol.

Our Saint Lucia Athletics Association is the national body responsible for athletics and regularly speaks about athletes proudly representing Saint Lucia internationally. In 2025, the Association itself said Julien Alfred and Aasia Laurencin were prepared to ensure "Saint Lucia's flag will fly high" at the World Championships.

The Saint Lucia Olympic Committee also works with national federations in sending Saint Lucian athletes to major international competitions.

Somewhere among these institutions there must be a clearly identified responsibility for ensuring that when Saint Lucia appears on the international stage, Saint Lucia actually looks like Saint Lucia.

If that responsibility currently belongs to nobody, then Government needs to assign it to somebody.

JULIEN HAS DONE HER PART

This is perhaps what makes Friday's situation so irritating.

Julien Alfred did not get her part wrong.

She ran 21.79 seconds.

She beat Kayla White of the United States, who finished in 22.00, and Britain's Amy Hunt, who finished third in 22.16.

She became a three-time Diamond League champion.

Julien has carried this tiny country onto sporting stages Saint Lucia could once only dream about.

She has made television commentators say our country's name.

She has caused our anthem to be played before international audiences.

She has wrapped herself proudly in our flag.

She has done her job.

The least we can do is make sure the flag we put into her hands is the right one.

THIS IS BIGGER THAN JULIEN

National symbols matter precisely because they belong to all of us.

That cerulean blue, gold, black and white flag represents almost 180,000 Saint Lucians at home and thousands more around the world.

It represents the children watching Julien and dreaming that one day they too might stand on an international podium.

It represents those who came before us.

It represents a country.

We would not accept another country's anthem being played for Julien.

We would not accept "almost the Saint Lucia anthem."

So why should we accept "almost the Saint Lucia flag"?

23 YEARS OF KNOWING IS ENOUGH

The Government was talking publicly about incorrect representations of our flag in 2003.

John Peters was calling attention to the problem in 2015.

Saint Lucians were questioning the representation again during Miss Universe in 2024.

Now we are talking about it following Julien Alfred's Diamond League triumph in 2026.

How much longer do we need?

Choiseul on the Move is therefore calling for something very simple.

The Government of Saint Lucia should establish and publicly distribute one authoritative digital National Flag Standards Package containing the approved colours, colour codes, dimensions, proportions and high-resolution vector artwork.

That package should be automatically supplied to the Saint Lucia Olympic Committee, every national sporting association, overseas missions, international sporting bodies hosting Saint Lucian athletes, tourism offices, schools, government agencies, manufacturers and media organisations.

And somebody must be formally responsible for maintaining it.

No guessing.

No random Google images.

No "close enough" blue.

No excuses.

Julien Alfred is carrying Saint Lucia to places we have never been before.

When she wins and reaches for the Saint Lucia flag, there should never again be any question about whether the flag placed in her hands is actually the flag of the country she just represented.

Our champion got it right in Brussels.

It is time for those responsible for our national representation to get it right too.

Choiseul on the Move

The flag is not decoration. It is our identity.