Coat of arms of British Columbia
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The Coat of Arms of British Columbia (officially, "The Arms of Her Majesty in Right of the Province of British Columbia") consists of the shield and motto in the achievement. The current form of the coat of arms was granted to British Columbia on March 31, 1906 by King Edward VII.
Symbols
The shield features a Union Jack in chief, with a crown (known heraldically as an antique crown) at its centre. In base it has the sun setting into the ocean, representing the province's location on the Pacific.
The motto Splendor Sine Occasu, meaning "splendour without diminishment" or "splendour without setting", once again refers to the sunset and the Pacific.[[Citing sources citation needed]]
The achievement of arms was augmented with a crest, supporters, and compartment granted by Queen Elizabeth II, on October 15, 1987.
The crest is the Queen's royal crest (a gold lion statant gardant - standing on all fours and facing the viewer - wearing the royal crown), differenced with a garland of Pacific Dogwood, the provincial flower.
The supporters are a wapiti stag and a bighorn sheep. The wapiti of Vancouver Island and the bighorn sheep of the mainland of the province symbolizes the union of the two colonies which united to form British Columbia in 1866.
The compartment is a garland of Pacific Dogwood.
History
The first heraldic provincial symbol was the Great Seal of the province, being the royal crest of the crowned lion upon the imperial crown as was the usual practice for British colonies, but with the letters "BC" added. This was used upon British Columbia joining Confederation.
The first coat of arms of the province was created by Canon Arthur Beanlands of Victoria, whose version was similar to the modern one, except with the charges on the shield reversed: the chief was the setting sun and the main part of the shield was the Union Jack. This coat was adopted by Order-in-Council of the province as the Great Seal on July 19, 1895.
While the design of the Great Seal was a provincial prerogative, coats of arms were (and are) honours granted by the Sovereign. The province attempted to register the design with the British College of Arms in 1897, but was unable to do so for several reasons. First among them was the use of the royal crest, which is the exclusive right of the sovereign and could not be granted to another entity even as a sign of utmost loyalty to the Queen. The heralds objected to the placement of the Union Jack in an inferior position on the shield (conflicting with the popular slogan, "The sun never sets on the British Empire"). The use of supporters, a high honour, was considered presumptuous, as no other province had been granted such a privilege.
The shield only (with the positions of the Union Jack and setting sun reversed, and with the antique crown added), along with the motto, was granted in 1906. The remainder of the achievement, including the royal crest (its use made permissible by differentiating it with the wreath of dogwood), was granted in 1987.
Blazon
The coat of arms of British Columbia is blazoned as follows:
- Shield: Argent, 3 bars wavy azure, issuant from the base a demi-sun in splendour proper, on a chief, the Union Device charged in the centre point with an antique crown Or.
- Crest: Upon a helm with a wreath argent and gules the royal crest of general purpose of our royal predecessor Queen Victoria differenced for us and our successors in right of British Columbia with the lion thereof garlanded about the neck with the provincial flower that is to say the pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttalli) with leaves all proper mantled gules doubled argent.
- Supporters: On the dexter side, a wapiti stag (Cervus canadensis) proper and on the sinister side a bighorn sheep ram (Ovis canadensis) argent armed and unguled Or.
- Compartment and motto: Beneath the shield a scroll entwined with pacific dogwood flowers slipped and leaved proper inscribed with the motto assigned by the said warrant of our royal predecessor King Edward VII that is to say "Splendor sine occasu".
See also
External links
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