Coat of arms of Canada
The coat of arms of Canada (French: Armoiries du Canada), also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada (French: armoiries royales du Canada)[11] or, formally, as the Arms of His Majesty The King in Right of Canada (French: Armoiries de Sa Majesté Le Roi du Canada),[16] is the arms of dominion of the Canadian monarch and, thus, also the official coat of arms of Canada.[15][17] In use since 1921, it is closely modelled after the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, with French and distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British version.
Arms of His Majesty The King in Right of Canada
Armoiries de Sa Majesté Le Roi du Canada
19 November 1921, last revised 12 July 1994[1]
Upon a royal helmet, a lion passant guardant or imperially crowned proper and holding in the dexter paw a maple leaf gules.
Argent and gules, the mantling gules doubled argent.
Tierced in fess, the first and second divisions containing the quarterly coat following, namely, 1st gules three lions passant guardant in pale or, 2nd, or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory gules, 3rd, azure a harp or stringed argent, 4th, azure three fleurs-de-lis or, and the third division being argent three maple leaves conjoined on one stem proper.
Dexter: a lion or holding a lance argent, point or, flying therefrom to the dexter the Royal Union Flag, sinister: a unicorn argent armed, crined and unguled or, gorged with a coronet composed of crosses-patée and fleurs-de-lis a chain affixed thereto and reflexed or, holding a like lance flying therefrom to the sinister a banner azure charged with three fleurs-de-lis or.
The ribbon of the Order of Canada (Latin: Desiderantes meliorem patriam, lit. 'desiring a better country')
The whole ensigned by the royal crown proper.
The maple leaves in the shield, blazoned "proper" (i.e., in natural colour), were originally drawn vert (green), but were redrawn gules (red) in 1957 and a circlet of the Order of Canada was added to the arms for limited use in 1987. The arms are registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority and protected under Crown copyright; they are used to signify national sovereignty and the federal government uses the arms to represent the state under the Federal Identity Program. Elements of the coat of arms are also used in other designs, with the shield being used in the various royal standards belonging to members of the royal family and the crest of the arms serving as the focal point of the governor general's flag.
1921–1923
1923–1957
1957–1994
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