Canadian Coat of Arms from Colonial to Modern Times

Initially, neither the French nor the English possessions on the territory of present-day Canada had their own emblems. Only the Scottish possession of Nova Scotia had its own coat of arms since its foundation in 1625, granted to it in 1621 by the Scottish King James VI. This coat of arms, which is the oldest coat of arms of North America, is a silver shield with a blue St. Andrew’s cross, in which is the small royal coat of arms of Scotland: a red lion in a gold field, surrounded by a double red border with heraldic lilies.

During the process of colonization, many lands of present-day Canada became private possessions of British companies, which had their own coats of arms.
Among the local population, the beaver and the Canadian maple were considered popular symbols from the 18th century. The image of the beaver – the most important fur animal of Canada, on the extraction of which the power of the British fur companies was based, is found not only on their emblems, but also on the coats of arms of some cities in Canada. But with the decline of the importance of the fur trade for the country’s economy, the image of the beaver was not included in the official Canadian heraldry, and only in 1975 a law was passed according to which the image of the beaver, considered the personification of hard work, enterprise and peacefulness, became one of the symbols of Canada along with its coat of arms and flag.
The first proper coat of arms of Canada, originally called, according to a royal decree, the “Great Seal of Canada”, was established in May 1868 by Queen Victoria of Great Britain.
It is a four-part shield, which combines the coats of arms of four provinces: in the first field, the coat of arms of Ontario – in a green field a gold maple branch with three leaves, in a silver head the red cross of St. George; in the second – the coat of arms of Quebec – in a gold field a red belt burdened with a gold British lion with blue weapons, in the upper field two blue lilies, in the lower – a green maple branch with three leaves; in the third – the coat of arms of Nova Scotia – in a gold field a blue wavy belt, charged with a silver salmon, above two and below one thistle of natural color; in the fourth – the coat of arms of New Brunswick – in a gold field a silver sailboat, in a red chapter a gold British lion with blue arms.

Subsequently, the coat of arms was depicted topped with a royal crown and framed by a wreath of golden maple leaves.

However, the original territory of the dominion comprised only about 5% of the area of ​​modern Canada. Most of it (Rupert’s Land) was owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company. The annexation of these lands was accelerated by the popular uprising of 1869, the symbol of which was a white flag with French lilies and an Irish shamrock in the center.
After the suppression of the uprising, the company’s lands became part of Canada in 1870, and from their southeastern part the province of Manitoba was formed, the coat of arms of which was supplemented by the Canadian coat of arms.
The following year, the province of British Columbia was annexed to Canada. Since it did not yet have a coat of arms, the new province began to be symbolized on the Canadian coat of arms by an emblem in the form of a crown topped by a lion and surrounded by a wreath and the first letters of the name of the province.
Finally, in 1873, the province of Prince Edward Island was annexed to Canada and the lower part of its coat of arms established in 1871 – a large and three small oak trees on a green island accompanied by the Latin motto “Small under the protection of the great” – also supplemented the Canadian coat of arms.
However, these three emblems were not always depicted on the coat of arms of Canada, and the order of their arrangement was never approved.
As new provinces were accepted into the dominion and their coats of arms were added to the coat of arms of Canada, it turned out to be so complex that at the beginning of the 20th century it was decided not to increase the number of its components. That is why neither the admission of the new provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta into Canada in 1905, nor the establishment of their coats of arms in 1907, nor the establishment of a new coat of arms of Manitoba in the same year, and the coat of arms of British Columbia in 1908, had any effect on the coat of arms of Canada. In 1919, a special committee of the Canadian government prepared and sent to London a draft of a new coat of arms, which, after consideration by the British Emblem College, was established by King George V on November 21, 1921 and became the new coat of arms of Canada. The shield of this coat of arms is four-part with an extremity. The five fields formed contain the coats of arms of the countries from which immigrants settled Canada. In the first red field there are three golden British walking lions (England). In the second gold field there is a red rushing lion surrounded by a red border with lilies (Scotland). In the third blue field there is a golden harp (Ireland). In the fourth blue field there are three golden lilies, two and one (from the 12th century until the revolution – a symbol of France). In the silver extremity there is a branch of sugar maple with three leaves, symbolizing the development of a new nation from many peoples (the maple leaves became red on October 8, 1957).

The shield of the Great Coat of Arms is crowned with a gold knight’s helmet with a silver-red mantling and a three-times silver-red bourrelet on which is a gold crowned British lion holding a red maple leaf in its raised right forepaw, intended to remind us of Canada’s participation in the First World War on the side of England. The red and silver (white) colours of the mantling and bourrelet correspond to the national colours of Canada. Above the lion is a gold Tudor crown, symbolising that the head of the Canadian state is formally considered to be the Queen of Great Britain, although since 1931 all British dominions have been practically independent. The shield holders: on the right is a British gold lion, on the left is a Scottish silver unicorn, which carry, on silver tournament spears, the British Union Jack and the French royal flag, respectively, which reminds us of the role of these countries in Canadian history. The shield holders also symbolized Canada’s status as a British dominion, as they were borrowed from the coat of arms of Great Britain.
Under the shield is a blue ribbon with a gold motto: “A mari usque ad mare” (“from sea to sea”). This motto is a quote from the Bible, Psalm 72 (in the Synodal edition of the Russian Orthodox Church – Psalm 71) Verse 8: “And let him rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” The motto was first used in 1906 in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan and was included in the coat of arms of Canada in 1921.
The coat of arms has subsequently been repeatedly changed: the motto ribbon took on a different shape; a foot appeared – a “plant coat of arms” formed from two symmetrical bouquets consisting of a rose (England), a thistle (Scotland), clover leaves (Ireland) and a lily (France); instead of the Tudor crown, the coat of arms was crowned with the more ancient crown of the English king Edward the Confessor.

The coat of arms acquired its modern appearance in 1994 – a red ribbon with a gold border was added, encircling the shield, on which the motto is inscribed: “Desiderantes Melioreum Patriam” (“They desired a better country”).