Heraldic Science Héraldique
  • ARTICLES
    • Bannière de France et pavillon blanc en Nouvelle-France
    • De précieux bijoux de famille : une légende au sujet du castor
    • Des emblèmes canadiens sur soie
    • L’Amérindien stéréotypé en héraldique canadienne : son évolution en regard de l’image imprimée
    • La médaille Kebeca Liberata a-t-elle inspiré le premier sceau de la ville de Québec?
    • La société de la Nouvelle-France était-elle féodale ?
    • Le Québec sur le Red Ensign : une fantaisie commerciale
    • Le tourisme héraldique : France
    • Le visage sur les cartes de Champlain : portrait ou symbole? (English summary) >
      • Annexe I Cartes ornées de portraits d’explorateurs, navigateurs ou cartographes
      • Annexe II Dessins de Louis Nicolas illustrés de soleils et lunes à visage
    • L’imagerie et le symbolisme de saint Nicolas et du père Noël
    • L’origine symbolique et chevaleresque du nom Dracula
    • Les anciennes armoiries de Montréal
    • Les armes sur les cartes géographiques du Canada >
      • Les armes de souveraineté sur les cartes de la Nouvelle-France et du Canada
      • Cartes canadiennes aux armes de sociétés commerciales
      • Les armes personnelles sur des cartes du Canada
    • Les armoiries de Claude de Ramezay
    • Les armoiries de François-Joseph d’Estienne de Chaussegros de Léry, baron de l’Empire
    • Les armoiries personnelles en Nouvelle-France >
      • Annexe I - La noblesse contestée de Denis-Joseph Ruette d’Auteuil
    • Les armoiries personnelles au Québec
    • Les origines du castor et de la feuille d’érable comme emblèmes canadiens
    • Les pavillons de la marine marchande en Nouvelle-France
    • Les symboles d’une congrégation de sœurs en guerre
    • Les symboles monarchiques dans les emblèmes du Québec
    • Où est passée la bibliothèque de l'Institut Drouin?
    • Un puissant symbole de vengeance qui brave le temps
    • Une accusation de plagiat héraldique au XVIIe siècle
    • A Mystery Emblem for Manitoba
    • A Precursor to the Flag of Nova Scotia
    • Adding and Subtracting Lions
    • Augmentations of Patriotism to Canadian Emblems
    • Canadian Badges on Liberation Plates of the Netherlands
    • Canadian Civic Arms on Ceramics
    • Canadian Postcards with Emblems and Rhymes
    • Did Alexander Scott Carter Give Canada Its National Colours?
    • Entalenté à parler d’armes
    • Globe Crests of Early Navigators
    • Heraldic Anachronisms in Movies and Television Series
    • Heraldic Postcard Colouring Books
    • Heraldic Whimsies
    • Land of the Maple
    • Mystery flags on a Rennaisance map
    • Nineteenth Century Postcards with Canadian Symbols
    • Royalty Mingling with Beavers and Maple Leaves
    • Royal Warrants of Appointment
    • The Achievement of Arms of Bordeaux: an Emblem Born in Strife
    • “The Maple Leaf Forever”: a Song and a Slogan / The Maple Leaf Forever : une chanson et un slogan
    • The Mermaid in Canadian Heraldry and Lore
    • The Much Maligned Arms of the Canada Company >
      • Appendix I The “Au Camélia” Trade Card
      • Appendix II Stylisation Versus Distortion
    • The Rise of the Single Maple Leaf as the Emblem of Canada
    • The Unicorn in Canada
    • Why Was the Beaver Left Out of Canada’s Coat of Arms >
      • Appendix I The Beaver Cutting Down a Maple
      • Appendix II The Flag of the Beaver Line
    • Why Three National Symbols of Sovereignty for Canada?
  • OUVRAGES / WORKS
    • ​La recherche de symboles identitaires canadiens >
      • Avant-propos
      • I Le tricolore de la France >
        • Appendice - Illustrations du tricolore dans des journaux canadiens
      • II L’Union Jack et le Red Ensign >
        • Appendice - Génèse de l'Union Jack
      • III Le choix d’un drapeau national >
        • Appendice 1 - Lettre de Stanley à Matheson
        • Appendice II Symboles métropolitains dans emblèmes provinciaux
      • IV Un ajout aux armoiries du Canada
    • Mythes et légendes au sujet d’emblèmes canadiens >
      • Introduction
      • Les symboles titillent l’imagination
      • La feuille d’érable en Nouvelle-France
      • Le castor
      • Comment la feuille d’érable devient emblème
      • La Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste et la feuille d'érable
      • La licorne et sa chaîne
    • CANADA’S COAT OF ARMS Defining a country within an empire >
      • Preface
      • Chapter 1 European Heritage
      • Chapter 2 The Beaver and Maple Leaf
      • Chapter 3 The Dominion Shield
      • Chapter 4 One Resolute Man
      • Chapter 5 King Rules or Heralds Rule
      • Chapter 6 Bureaucrats and Artists
      • Conclusion
    • A GUIDE TO HERALDRY From a Canadian Perspective >
      • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
      • PREFACE
      • Chapter I BIRTH AND SURVIVAL OF HERALDRY
      • Chapter II TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
      • Chapter III ARMS VERSUS LOGO
      • Chapter IV THE QUEST FOR ARMS
      • Chapter V DESIGNING ARMS >
        • ANNEX I
      • Chapter VI AN AUXILIARY SCIENCE >
        • ANNEX II
      • CHAPTER VII HERALDRY WITHIN THE SYMBOLS’ FAMILY
      • CONCLUSION
      • APPENDIX I LEARNING TO BLAZON
      • APPENDIX II TRACING PERSONAL ARMS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
      • APPENDIX III IDENTIFYING ARMS FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES
      • BIBLIOGRAPHY
      • GLOSSARY
    • VARIATIONS IN THE ARMS OF SOVEREIGNTY CONNECTED WITH CANADA (a Pictorial Overview) >
      • The “Who was Who?” of Canadian Heraldry / Le « Qui était qui ? » de l’héraldique canadienne >
        • A
        • B
        • C
        • D
        • E
        • F
        • G
        • H
        • I
        • J
        • K
        • L
        • M
        • N
        • O
        • P
        • Q
        • R
        • S
        • T
        • U
        • V
        • W
        • X
        • Y
        • Z
        • APPENDIX/APPENDICE I
        • APPENDIX/APPENDICE II
      • Foreword
      • Royal Arms of Colonial Powers
      • Dominion Shields
      • Arms of Canada
      • Arms and Devices of Provinces and Territories
      • Afterword
    • Glanures héraldiques * Heraldic gleanings >
      • Projet d’un juge d’armes de France pour la Nouvelle-France / Project of a Judge of Arms of France for New France
      • The Arms of a Little-known Navigator / Les armes d’un navigateur peu connu
      • Une bouillabaisse sur écu / A Bouillabaisse on a Shield
      • Managing a Heraldic Conflict / Gestion d’un conflit héraldique
      • Une opinion sur les armes du Québec / An Opinion on the Arms of the Province of Quebec
      • La fleur de lis seule : marque d’autorité et de possession royales en Nouvelle-France / The Single Fleur-de-lis: a Royal Mark of Authority and Possession in New France
      • Un écu fictif pour Samuel de Champlain / A Fictitious Shield for Samuel de Champlain
      • Coïncidences héraldiques / Heraldic Coincidences
      • Vision d’une mort tragique ? / A Tragic Death Foretold?
      • The Mystery “Arms” of the North West Company / Les mystérieuses « armes » de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest
      • Were the Arms of Newfoundland Granted to the Province Originally? / Les armoiries de Terre-Neuve étaient-elles originellement assignées à la province ?
      • A Tragedy Illustrated on a Coat of Arms / Une tragédie illustrée sur des armoiries
      • Une fleur de lis ardente / A Glowing Fleur-de-lis
      • Chadwick’s Écu Complet for the Dominion of Canada / Chadwick conçoit un « écu complet » pour le Dominion du Canada
      • A “The More the Merrier” Expression of Canadian Patriotism / Le patriotisme canadien selon la formule « plus il y en a, mieux c’est »
      • Gare aux blasphémateurs ! / Blasphemers Beware!
      • An Armorial Bookplate with International Scope / Un ex-libris d’intérêt international
      • La couleur sable est-elle issue d’une fourrure? / Was the Colour Sable Derived from a Fur?
      • Le gouffre, un symbole pré-héraldique universel / The Gurges, a Pre-heraldic Universal Symbol
      • The Customs Value of Heraldic Art / La valeur douanière de l’art héraldique
      • Don’t Tamper With Symbols! / Ne faussez pas les symboles!
      • Pulling Coats of Arms out of a Hat / Des armoiries tirées d’un chapeau
      • La feuille d'érable en chanson / The Maple leaf in song
      • La compagnie maritime Allan Line a-t-elle plagié le tricolore français? / Did the Shipping Company Allan Line Plagiarize the Tricolour of France?
      • Un emblème patriotique inclusif / An Inclusive Patriotic Emblem ​New Page

Afterword
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For many years, a large segment of the heraldry of the Dominion of Canada, as well as that of its provinces and territories, consisted of freely adopted emblems. Among the best sources for these devices today are old postcards and ceramic pieces. The emblems found on them, especially from Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897 up to the First World War reveal that Canadians expressed stead fast loyalty to the Crown and Great-Britain and equal attachment to the homeland. Loyalty to the Crown and mother country was conveyed by the omnipresence of the royal crown, the royal arms, the Union Jack, the British Red Ensign, and sometimes the Royal Standard. Attachment to the homeland took the form of maple leaves and beavers which accompanied all forms of Canadian emblems. The inscription: “The Maple Leaf Forever” from a song composed by Alexander Muir in 1867 was also a favourite, and a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on a horse became popular, particularly in the second half of the twentieth century. The symbols viewed as best to represent the mother country and those thought most appropriate to represent the homeland were often intermixed.
 
A large number of heraldic items such as pins, buckles, and spoons displayed the Dominion shield and the Canadian Red Ensign, but similar items decked with the royal arms and Union Jack were also sold concurrently. In some cases, British and Canadian symbols appeared together on the same article. Actual flags on sale included the British Red Ensign, the Union Jack, and the Canadian Red Ensign. This is well illustrated, for instance, in the two 1901 T. Eaton Company Catalogues, combined together and republished in1970. [1]
 
But who were the Canadians who remained unflinchingly attached to symbols of the British Empire? Many came from England no doubt, but certainly not all. Sir John A. Macdonald, who was born in Glasgow (Scotland), kept preaching the necessity to remain loyal to the Union Jack and the mother country. Sir Joseph Pope’s grandfather, who was born in England, immigrated to Prince Edward Island in 1819.  His father and he were both born on that island. Sir Joseph and his francophone wife Louise-Joséphine-Henriette Taschereau befriended the Liberal leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier and his wife, although Sir Joseph was himself private secretary to Macdonald, the Conservative leader. Pope shared with a vengeance his employer’s attachment to the Union Jack and British values. Laurier, whose ancestry was French, declared to the Liberal Club in London:  “I am British to the core.” Yet the policies of both Macdonald and Laurier were clearly aimed at promoting Canadian interests.
 
The maple leaf triumphed over its much older rival, the beaver, when it appeared alone with the colours of the country on Canada’s flag in 1965. Still, loyalty to older symbols was not suppressed. The beaver was declared a symbol of Canada’s sovereignty by an act of Parliament in 1975. It remains prominent on 5-cent coins and has the honour of supporting the royal crown in the crests of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The number of beavers in emblems granted by the Canadian Heraldic Authority remains impressive. The Royal Union Flag, usually called the Union Jack, was approved by Parliament in 1964 to be flown with the Canadian flag in certain places and on appropriate occasions to signify Canada’s membership in the Commonwealth and its allegiance to the Crown.
 
Franco-Canadians were also conscious of a dual heritage. In the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, some Quebec authors promoted the idea that francophones were heirs to two great cultures and traditions, one Latin and the other Anglo-Saxon. A representative sentence asserted: “to be French Canadian is to be English by allegiance, French by origin and catholic by faith.” [2] I was exposed to these same notions in the 1940’s as a child in Ontario French schools. Later when I taught high school in the 1960’s, the French work available was Notre héritage européen by Frère Léon, published in 1963 as a manual to teach history to francophones in Ontario. Frère Léon maintains that the influence of France and England were the main factors in the development of Canada, and points out that Franco-Canadians benefited from English criminal laws and the British parliamentary system of government, while keeping their language, civil laws (in Quebec), and religion. A less optimistic aspect of this duality is that many francophones assimilate into the larger anglophone majority, particularly in regions where they are a minority.
 
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the francophones in Quebec had generally set aside the fleur-de-lis of royal France in favour of the beaver and maple leaf. One reason stemmed from a feeling of betrayal by France for the lost of Canada to the British in 1763, and another resided in the fact that communications with France were virtually severed until the second half of the nineteenth century. But it became evident to Quebecers that the beaver and maple leaf were not adequate to represent their origins and cultural specificity because both had also been adopted by the rest of Canada, especially by Ontario. In 1868 the Province of Quebec was granted a shield of arms with two fleurs-de-lis in the top, probably requested by George-Étienne Cartier, one of the Fathers of Confederation. But it took time for Quebecers to fully endorse the resurrection of this old symbol. A turning point was the bringing to light in the last years of the nineteenth century of an old flag with four fleurs-de-lis supposedly flown at the battle of Carillon where the troops of Montcalm were victorious in 1758. Subsequent flags of the province were inspired by this venerable relic. The fleur-de-lis gained in popularity during the first half of the twentieth century to the point of becoming the unchallenged emblem of the province of Quebec. One thing that no doubt facilitated the displacement of the beaver and maple leaf by the fleur-de-lis was the fact that the French government had discarded this symbol as a national emblem when it became a republic in 1792.
 
England had not discarded its emblems, and although the Union Jack was flown in Canada for many years, the country eventually sought a flag of its own. Newfoundland flew the Union Jack until 1980 when it decided to adopt its own design. The fact that the arms of Canada are closely patterned on the royal arms of Great Britain raised objections from Garter King of Arms when Canada took steps to have them made official.  Republican France, on the other hand, could hardly have raised serious objections to Quebec’s adoption of the fleurs-de-lis as a symbol which had played a central role in its history at the time of New France and which the mother country had abandoned.
 
When dealing with heraldic souvenirs, it is difficult to know if they were primarily intended for the Canadian or the tourist market. The fact that some were sold in Canadian catalogues such as T. Eaton and the Hudson’s Bay Company indicates that there was a substantial Canadian market for such patriotic items. On the other hand, many were bought by tourists mostly from the United States, but also from other countries. Inevitably tourists would have sought imagery that was unmistakably Canadian, something which may have favoured the proliferation of beavers and maple leaves and other typically Canadian symbols on souvenirs.

Picture
This postcard by Raphael Tuck & Sons illustrates very well the duality of Canadians. Their attachment to the mother country is expressed by the Union Jack and the loyalty to the monarchy by the portraits of Earl Grey as Governor General of Canada and that of his viceregal consort Lady Grey. Strong Canadian sentiment is reflected in the beaver and garlands of maple leaves, the Canadian Blue Ensign displaying in the fly a four-province Dominion shield topped by the royal crown, and portraits of prominent Canadians. A message on the back of the card is dated 21 June 1909. Property of Auguste and PaulaVachon.
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Notes
 
[1] T. Eaton Company, Catalogues 46-47, 1901 (Toronto: The Musson Book Company, 1970): 130, 197.
 
[2] This theme is expanded upon by Auguste Vachon, “La céramique armoriée d’importation, reflet du nationalisme canadien (1887-1921)” in Genealogica & Heraldica: Proceedings of the 22nd International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences in Ottawa, August 18-23, 1996 (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1998): 490.
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