What counts as a symbol, and the Canadian Crown
See why the Crown stands for the whole Canadian state—Parliament, legislatures, courts, police and the armed forces—rather than for any party or the government of the day.
Discover Canada uses the word symbol broadly: an object, an event or even a person with special meaning that helps express what being Canadian means. Symbols run through the whole guide, which is why one official study question simply asks you to name two. The chapter opens with a photo of the Mace of the House of Commons and then turns to its oldest symbol, the Crown.
The Crown has stood for the state in Canada for about 400 years. Confederation in 1867, under Queen Victoria, made Canada a constitutional monarchy in its own right. “In its own right” signals that the monarchy is part of Canada’s own constitution, not just a link to Britain. The Sovereign is head of state; the Prime Minister, as head of government, does the real day-to-day work of governing.
Because it stands above party politics, the Crown is the emblem of institutions that belong to every citizen: Parliament, the provincial legislatures, the courts, police services and the armed forces (the guide’s Canadian Forces). Crown symbolism appears on many of their badges and insignia. The elected government of the day, led by the Prime Minister and Cabinet, is politically separate and changes with elections; the Crown does not.
The guide was written under Queen Elizabeth II and gives three dates for her: Queen of Canada from 1952, a Golden Jubilee in 2002 and a Diamond Jubilee (60 years as Sovereign) in 2012. Current note: her reign ended with her death in 2022 and the Crown passed to her successor, so the Royal Anthem is now sung as “God Save the King.”
Flags, the maple leaf, national colours and the fleur-de-lys
Untangle the flags and emblems the guide mentions and the dates that tie them together: 496, the 1700s, the 1850s, 1876, 1921, 1948 and 1965.
Today’s Canadian flag—a red maple leaf on a white square between two red bars—first flew in 1965. Its red-white-red layout was borrowed from the flag of the Royal Military College in Kingston, founded in 1876. The colours are far older: France and England had both used red and white since the Middle Ages, and Canada made them its national colours in 1921 (the history chapter credits King George V with assigning them).
Before 1965 the Canadian Red Ensign was the country’s flag for about 100 years, and veterans have officially carried it since 2005. Don’t mix it up with the Union Jack, which the guide calls Canada’s official Royal Flag and which represents the link with the Crown. Each province and territory also has its own flag expressing its distinct traditions.
No Canadian symbol is better known than the maple leaf. French Canadians adopted it as an emblem in the 1700s; from the 1850s it was worn on Canadian uniforms and insignia; and it marks the gravestones of Canadian soldiers who died in service, both abroad and in Canada. So the leaf chosen for the 1965 flag was not a new idea: it had already been a Canadian emblem for well over a century.
The fleur-de-lys (French for “lily flower”) goes back, by tradition, to a French king who took it as his emblem in the year 496. For over a millennium it was the badge of French kings, and it represented New France as well. After Confederation the symbol was brought back and placed on the Canadian Red Ensign. Quebec’s own flag, adopted in 1948, is built around a cross and the fleur-de-lys. Both emblems therefore have French roots older than Confederation.
The coat of arms, the motto and the Parliament Buildings
Learn what the Royal Arms and “from sea to sea” say about Canada, and the dates of Parliament’s fire, rebuilding and Peace Tower.
After the First World War, a wave of national pride led Canada to adopt an official coat of arms, the Royal Arms of Canada, and a national motto: A Mari Usque Ad Mare, Latin for “from sea to sea.” The phrase echoes the Bible verse that inspired the title Dominion of Canada at Confederation, and it describes a country that spans a continent from one ocean to another.
The design mixes emblems of England, France, Scotland and Ireland, the homelands of many early settlers, with red maple leaves for Canada. You will find the arms on paper money, official government documents and public buildings. When a question asks what the motto means, choose “from sea to sea”; “strong and free” is a phrase from the national anthem, not the motto.
Ottawa’s Parliament Buildings were completed in the 1860s. Study the details—towers and arches, carvings, stained-glass windows—and you find French, English and Aboriginal (Indigenous) traditions, all expressed in the Gothic Revival style favoured in the Victorian era. The Centre Block burned in an accidental fire in 1916 and was rebuilt in 1922; the Library of Parliament is the one part of the original structure still standing.
The Peace Tower was finished in 1927 as a memorial to the First World War. Its Memorial Chamber keeps the Books of Remembrance, which record by name the Canadians in uniform—on land, at sea and in the air—who died in war or on duty. Provincial legislature buildings are worth knowing too. Quebec’s National Assembly was built in the French Second Empire style; other provinces chose Baroque, Romanesque or neoclassical designs that recall the Greco-Roman world where democracy began.
Official languages, the two anthems and national holidays
Separate the language, national and royal symbols, then learn every holiday and commemorative date the guide lists.
English and French are Canada’s two official languages and key symbols of identity. Anglophones (English speakers) and Francophones (French speakers) have shared the country for more than 300 years, cooperating, sometimes uneasily but productively. Citizenship requires adequate knowledge of English or French; the guide exempts adult applicants aged 55 and over, and a notice on its pages confirms the requirement covers applicants aged 18 to 54.
The Official Languages Act became law in 1969. Learn its three objectives as a set: equal status for the two languages in Parliament, in federal government and in the other institutions the Act covers; support for the growth and vitality of official-language minority communities (French speakers outside Quebec, English speakers within it); and wider equality of the two languages across Canadian society. The Act concerns public institutions; it does not oblige every Canadian to be bilingual.
“O Canada” was first performed in Québec City in 1880 and was proclaimed the national anthem a century later, in 1980. English and French Canadians sing it with different words rather than a direct translation; the English version opens “O Canada! Our home and native land!” Current note: in 2018 Parliament made the English second line gender-neutral, changing “thy sons” to “of us”; the guide still prints the older wording.
The Royal Anthem, “God Save the King” (or “Queen,” depending on who reigns), is a separate song. It may be performed whenever Canadians want to pay tribute to the Sovereign, and the guide prints it in English and French. A quick way to keep the two apart: “O Canada” is about the country, while the Royal Anthem is about the monarch.
The guide closes the chapter with national public holidays and other important dates. The fixed ones are New Year’s Day (January 1), Sir John A. Macdonald Day (January 11), Vimy Day (April 9), Quebec’s Fête nationale (June 24, the Feast of St. John the Baptist), Canada Day (July 1), Remembrance Day (November 11), Sir Wilfrid Laurier Day (November 20), Christmas Day (December 25) and Boxing Day (December 26).
The rest move. Good Friday is the Friday immediately before Easter Sunday; Easter Monday is the day after it. Victoria Day, marking the Sovereign’s birthday, is the Monday before May 25. Labour Day is the first Monday of September and Thanksgiving the second Monday of October. Some listed dates, such as Vimy Day and the two prime ministers’ days, are commemorations rather than days off. Current note: September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, became a federal statutory holiday in 2021 and is not in the guide.
Hockey and other sports, the beaver—and the Bluenose
Match each trophy to its sport and donor, rank the popular sports the way the guide does, and learn where the beaver appears.
No sport draws more Canadian spectators than hockey, the national winter sport; the ice game itself took shape in Canada during the 1800s. National Hockey League teams compete for the Stanley Cup, donated in 1892 by Lord Stanley, then Governor General. Women’s hockey has the Clarkson Cup, which Adrienne Clarkson—the 26th Governor General and the first of Asian origin—created in 2005. The game is part of ordinary life too: school teams, leagues, road hockey on quiet streets, parents driving children to the rink and generations of hockey-card collections. A chapter photo shows the Montreal Canadiens, 1978 Stanley Cup champions.
Canadian football ranks second in popularity. Its professional league, the Canadian Football League, plays for the Grey Cup, donated in 1909 by Lord Grey, another Governor General (the guide covers this in its arts and culture section). Curling, a game on ice, arrived with Scottish pioneers. Lacrosse, an ancient game first played by Indigenous peoples, is the official national summer sport, while more Canadians are registered to play soccer than any other game.
Centuries ago the Hudson’s Bay Company made the beaver its symbol—fitting, since European demand for beaver pelts drove the fur trade. In 1834 the St. Jean Baptiste Society, a patriotic French-Canadian association, chose it as an emblem, and other groups did the same. Today the hard-working animal is on the five-cent coin, on the provincial arms of Saskatchewan and Alberta, and on the arms of cities including Montreal and Toronto.
One coin symbol in this lesson is not from the guide: the Bluenose, a famous Nova Scotia fishing and racing schooner, appears on the ten-cent coin. It is useful general knowledge, but the guide’s own coin fact is the beaver on the five-cent piece. The chapter also calls the Snowbirds (431 Air Demonstration Squadron) a Canadian icon and pictures the RCMP Musical Ride, both handy answers if asked to name Canadian symbols.
Remembrance, the Order of Canada and the Victoria Cross
Understand the symbols used to remember sacrifice, how Canada’s honours system began, and the six Victoria Cross recipients the guide names.
On November 11, Remembrance Day, Canadians honour the veterans and the fallen of every war Canada has fought, up to the present. People pin on a red poppy and pause in silence at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month. The guide counts more than a million men and women who served and 110,000 who gave their lives (these facts come from its history chapter).
The poppy is closely associated with “In Flanders Fields,” the poem written in 1915 by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian medical officer, which is widely read aloud each Remembrance Day. Remembrance also has its places: the Books of Remembrance in the Peace Tower’s Memorial Chamber, and the Vimy Memorial in France. So the poppy honours sacrifice in war—not Confederation, not prime ministers and not the Sovereign.
Honours are a country’s official way of recognizing outstanding citizens, and they take three forms: orders, decorations and medals. For many years Canadians received British honours. Canada’s own system began in 1967, Confederation’s centennial year, when the Order of Canada was created. Anyone may nominate a fellow citizen who deserves recognition. A chapter photo shows jazz pianist Oscar Peterson receiving the Order of Canada in 1973 from Roland Michener, the 20th Governor General.
No honour available to Canadians ranks above the Victoria Cross (V.C.). It is reserved for courage in the presence of the enemy: conspicuous bravery, daring valour, self-sacrifice, or devotion to duty taken to the extreme. The guide says 96 Canadians have received it since 1854. The first was Alexander Roberts Dunn, born in what is now Toronto, who served in the British Army and rode in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava (1854) during the Crimean War.
William Hall, an Able Seaman from Horton, Nova Scotia, was the son of parents who had been enslaved in the United States; he became the first Black man to win the V.C., for the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Ukrainian-born Corporal Filip Konowal was decorated for his courage at the Battle of Hill 70 in 1917, becoming the first Canadian Corps member from outside the British Empire to receive it.
Billy Bishop, a flying ace from Owen Sound, Ontario, won his V.C. with the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War; the Royal Canadian Air Force later named him an honorary Air Marshal. Paul Triquet, a captain from Cabano, Quebec, earned his in 1943 at Casa Berardi, Italy, at the head of his men and a few tanks, and later rose to Brigadier. Robert Hampton Gray, a navy pilot from Trail, B.C., died in August 1945 as he attacked and sank a Japanese warship, days before the war ended—the guide names him the last Canadian V.C. to date.
Key facts to remember
- The Crown symbolizes the state and the constitutional institutions of government, legislatures, courts, police services and the armed forces.
- The red-and-white maple leaf flag was first raised in 1965. The maple leaf has been used as a Canadian emblem since the nineteenth century.
- O Canada is the national anthem. The national motto, A Mari Usque Ad Mare, means “from sea to sea.”
- The beaver recalls the fur trade and appears on the five-cent coin. The fleur-de-lys has deep French-Canadian roots.
- The Remembrance Day poppy honours Canadians who served or died in war. November 11 recalls the armistice ending the First World War.
- The Victoria Cross is Canada’s highest military honour. Hockey is the national winter sport and lacrosse the national summer sport.
Check yourself
- What do the maple leaf, Crown, beaver and poppy represent?
- The maple leaf is a long-used national emblem; the Crown represents the state; the beaver recalls the fur trade; the poppy represents remembrance.
- What does Canada’s national motto mean?
- A Mari Usque Ad Mare means “from sea to sea.”
- Which sports are officially associated with winter and summer?
- Hockey is the national winter sport and lacrosse the national summer sport.
Practice questions
Eight questions shaped like the official test: one right answer out of four, with the reason it is right. The timed twenty-question exams are in the app.
What does the Canadian Crown symbolize?
- Only the federal Cabinet
- The state and government, including law and public service
- A political party
- Municipal government alone
Answer: The state and government, including law and public service. The Crown personifies the Canadian state and is part of Parliament, government and the courts.
When was the current red-and-white maple leaf flag first raised?
- 1867
- 1921
- 1965
- 1982
Answer: 1965. The current National Flag of Canada was first raised in 1965.
What does Canada’s motto A Mari Usque Ad Mare mean?
- Strong and free
- From sea to sea
- Peace, order and government
- The people of the North
Answer: From sea to sea. The Latin motto means “from sea to sea.”
When was “O Canada” proclaimed the national anthem?
- 1880
- 1917
- 1965
- 1980
Answer: 1980. It was first sung in 1880 and proclaimed the national anthem in 1980.
Which animal appears on Canada’s five-cent coin?
- Polar bear
- Beaver
- Caribou
- Moose
Answer: Beaver. The beaver, important to the fur trade, appears on the five-cent coin.
What are Canada’s national summer and winter sports?
- Soccer and skiing
- Lacrosse and hockey
- Baseball and curling
- Basketball and skating
Answer: Lacrosse and hockey. Lacrosse is the national summer sport and hockey the national winter sport.
What does the Remembrance Day poppy honour?
- Confederation delegates
- Canadians who served or died in war
- Only former prime ministers
- The first European explorers
Answer: Canadians who served or died in war. The poppy remembers the sacrifice of Canadians who served or died in wars.
What is Canada’s highest honour for military valour?
- Order of Canada
- Victoria Cross
- Governor General’s Medal
- Royal Canadian Medal
Answer: Victoria Cross. The Victoria Cross is the highest honour available to Canadians for military valour.