Герб Канады: История и Символика

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The coat of arms of Canada , also known as the Royal Coat of Arms of Canada or, formally, as the Arms of His Majesty The King in Right of Canada , is the arms of dominion of the Canadian monarch and, thus, also the official coat of arms of Canada. 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. 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.

Prior to Confederation in 1867, the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom served in Canada as the symbol of royal authority. Arms had not been granted to any of the colonies in British North America, apart from 17th century grants to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Arms were then granted by royal warrant, on 26 May 1868, to Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. (That Nova Scotia had previously been granted arms was forgotten and it took until 1929 for the historic arms granted in the 17th century to be reinstated. which were used on the first Red Ensign carried by Canadian troops at Vimy Ridge in 1917. As more provinces and territories joined Canada, the original four arms were marshalled with the arms of the new members of Confederation, eventually resulting in a shield with nine quarterings. A committee, which included Dominion Archivist Arthur Doughty, was formed in 1919 to pursue the issue, eventually agreeing that the elements of the new arms would reference the royal arms of England, Ireland, Scotland, and France, with maple leaves representing Canada, though there was at the time no consensus on how the leaves were to be used. the committee records were preserved with Library and Archives Canada. with the addition of maple leaves in the base and the reference to the French royal arms in the fourth quarter. Eugène Fiset, the Deputy Minister of Defence, claimed in 1918 that the design of the arms would determine the national colours of Canada and an unnamed member of the committee stated, "the colours of the shield will become the national colours of the Dominion [ ] the red maple leaf has been used in service flags to denote men who have sacrificed their lives for the country [ ] The case for white is that it contains an allusion to snow, which is characteristic of our climate and our landscape in certain seasons." In the 1940s, military historian Archer Fortescue Duguid suggested King George V had chosen red and white as Canada's official colours because those were the colours in the wreath and mantling on the arms. However, Forrest Pass, a curator at Library and Archives Canada, determined there is no record of either the King or the committee giving much importance to the mantling and the royal proclamation of the coat of arms makes no mention of national colours, specifically.#tag:ref|In his book, Canada's Constitutional Monarchy, Nathan Tidridge argued that the creation of Queen Elizabeth II's standard in 1961 set the country's official colours as red and white. By 1957, the arms were redrawn by Alan Beddoe so as to have red leaves and to change the royal crown from a Tudor design to one more resembling St Edward's Crown, as preferred by Queen Elizabeth II. While unsuccessful in this first attempt, Hicks continued his campaign and was joined by a number of other amateur and professional heraldists. As a journalist in the parliamentary press gallery in Ottawa in the late 1980s and early '90s, Hicks strategically recast the change as something worth doing to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Order of Canada's founding, in 1992; an idea that was endorsed by the Advisory Committee on the Order of Canada. It took until 1994 for the Queen to approve the new design for general use; though, the Canadian Heraldic Authority, established by the Queen in 1988, began to allow for its limited use beginning in 1987, where the arms were used to represent the Queen personally on letters patent granting new arms for distinguished Canadians. Member of Parliament Pat Martin introduced, in June 2008, a motion into the House of Commons calling on the government to amend the coat of arms to incorporate symbols representing Canada's First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples, as Chadwick had suggested in 1917. After the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on 6 May 2023, the Canadian Heraldic Authority revealed a new Canadian Royal Crown featuring maple leaves, a snowflake, and symbols with meaning to Canada's Indigenous peoples. The authority stated changes will take place in due course.

The coat of arms, being those of the sovereign and the state, is used to signify national sovereignty and ownership. The federal government uses the arms to represent the state under the Federal Identity Program and the prime minister within it, and the Supreme Court, as well as the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). In the latter two, the most senior non commissioned ranks wear the 1957 version of the arms as a badge of rank, representing the fact that they have received the King's warrant (as opposed to the King's Commission for officers). The arms of Canada is also present on all pre polymer denominations of Canadian banknotes—printed on each bill in a way that functions as a security feature,—as well as the 50¢ coin and on the cover of Canadian passports. Permanent resident cards issued from 2015 feature a holographic representation of the 1957 version of the coat of arms. The full achievement of the coat of arms has been used by the Canadian government on occasion on a plain red flag, such as in 1967 for the country's centennial celebrations. It is also used on a flag in its full achievement in military ceremonies, such as Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo performances. As the royal arms are personal to the sovereign, they cannot be used without the King's consent. The coat of arms "as designed in 1921 and revised in 1957 [ ] [and] in 1994" are "protected under the Trade marks Act and the Copyright Act and cannot be used or reproduced without authorization." Further, "marks and designs similar to the official symbols are pursued as a copyright or trade mark infringement." In addition, under Crown copyright, "permission is always required when the work is being revised, adapted, or translated, regardless if the purpose of the reproduction is for personal or public non commercial distribution."

The banner of the arms was in 2023 also made the sovereign's flag, for use by the monarch in Canada and when representing Canada abroad. Between 1962 and 2022, the banner of arms defaced with a variant of the Queen's cypher formed the Queen's Personal Canadian Flag, for use by Queen Elizabeth II. Six additional standards for use by other members of the Canadian royal family were created in the 2010s, all using a similar design with the banner of the arms as their base. The personal flag of the governor general has, since 1981, featured the crest of the royal arms of Canada on a blue background. With the support of former Speakers of the House of Commons John Fraser and Gilbert Parent, Bruce Hicks campaigned for the Canadian Parliament to have a distinct heraldic symbol, along the lines of the portcullis (variations of which are used by the Commons and Lords in the British Parliament). In response, Member of Parliament Derek Lee tabled a motion calling for a committee to be struck, which passed and Hicks and Robert Watt, the first Chief Herald of Canada, were called as the only two expert witnesses; though, Senator Serge Joyal joined the committee ex officio, on behalf of the Senate. The Commons' Speaker, Peter Milliken, then asked the Canadian Heraldic Authority to design such a symbol and, on 15 February 2008, the Governor General authorized the House of Commons to begin using a badge, consisting of the shield of the royal arms superimposed on the ceremonial mace (assigned to the House of Commons as a symbol of the royal authority under which it operates). Following the Commons example, the Senate then requested and obtained, exactly two months later, a similar badge for itself, with the shield of the royal arms surmounted on the mace assigned to the Senate.