Canadian Symbols

1.  Name

·  1535 Jacques Cartier mistakes the Huron – Iroquois word for village “kanata” as the word for the entire area. Later Kanata would be used to cover a much larger area – anything north of the St. Lawrence River.

·  When the region became known as New France, Canada was still used to refer to the area around the St. Lawrence.

·  The area of Canada expanded with the fur trade and by the early 1700s would include much of what is now the American Midwest going as far south as Louisiana.

·  First use of Canada as an official name came in 1791 when the Province of Quebec was divided into the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada.

2.  Beaver

·  Upon realizing that Canada was not part of the spice-rich Orient the main business attraction was the beaver. This was due to European fashion demanding fur hats.

·  Fur trade was seen as a way of acquiring much needed revenue and establishing a North American emire.

·  Over the years the beaver has graced the Hudson’s Bay Company coat of arms, the coat of arms of Nova Scotia, a 1690 French coin, the armorial bearings of the city of Montreal, and Canada’s first postage stamp – the “Three Penny Beaver” of 1851.

3.  Maple Leaf / Tree

·  The Maple tree or more particularly its sap was serving as a food source well before the arrival of the Europeans.

·  The Maple leaf began to serve as a Canadian symbol as early as 1700.

·  The Maple leaf has been on Canadian coins since 1876 and in fact until 1901 it appeared on ALL Canadian coins.

·  The Maple tree became officially the Canadian tree in 1996.

4.  National Colours & Flag

·  The current Canadian flag came into being February 15, 1965.

·  The search for a new flag began in earnest in 1925 and then again in 1946, and finally in 1964.

·  The colours of red and white were chosen as they had been Canada’s national colours since 1921.

·  The colours red and white go further back to the crusades where France had a red cross on its banners and England a white cross. These two colors would be closely tied to these nations throughout history.

·  The maple leaf had of course long been a symbol of Canada but the single red maple leaf on a white field had been used since 1904 by all Canadian Olympic athletes