As part of Sir Aston Webb's grandiose Victoria Memorial at Buckingham Palace, which was installed in 1908, three dominions of the British Empire gave ornate gates of wrought iron and stone. Of these three dominions, the Canada gate is the most ornate and impressive, with five separate entry gates leading into Green Park.
The central gate contains a wrought iron 1868 version of the Dominion's coat of arms (which is different from the modern coat of arms of the nation of Canada). The seal has been gilded so the designs really stand out. This coats of arms is extremely busy, with one quartering for each of Canada's 4 provinces. Victoria herself granted these arms to the Dominion by Royal Warrant.
The whole complicated story is found here: (
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"From Confederation to the time it was granted arms in 1921, Canada used a quartered shield which included emblems representing Canada’s provinces and territories. A shield with the arms of the first four provinces to join Confederation was granted to be used as a Great Seal for Canada in 1868. As new provinces joined Confederation, their devices, taken from provincial seals or designed by heraldic amateurs, were placed on the shield. The whole was made even busier by the addition of a crown above the shield, branches of maple or oak around it, and a beaver below, frequently on a log. It was widely believed by Canadian and British authorities that the 1868 shield constituted the official emblem of Canada, but that it should include only the four original arms. They thought that if the additional quarters and other elements external to the shield were removed, Canada’s heraldic house would be in order. When the government realized that the quartered shield with the arms of four provinces had been granted for use as a Great Seal, and not as arms for the country, Canadian officials saw a golden opportunity to get rid of the much-criticized multi-province shield and to give the country an entirely new emblem.
The royal warrant of Her Majesty Queen Victoria granting individual arms to each of the four original provinces forming Confederation was dated 26 May 1868. The content of these new arms seems to have been proposed by the Canadian delegates who had gone to England in November 1866 and had stayed there until the spring of 1867 to negotiate the final terms of union between the Canada East, Canada West, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. An undated memorandum contains the original proposals. It suggested for Ontario the Union Jack with its three crosses to emphasize the almost equal blend of English, Scots and Irish colonists within the province, and a sprig of three maple leaves, which was the “distinctive provincial badge in both Upper and Lower Canada.” For the arms of New Brunswick, the proposal was a ship as found in the arms today with the curious addition of a horse to designate “the House of Brunswick (although properly representative of the House of Hanover only).” “The ship refers to the shipping which is the principal employment and occupation of the Province.’ The components proposed for the other provinces would eventually be retained in the actual grant. The memorandum also proposed a nationals emblem: “The Arms of the Dominion to be quarterly, comprising the Coats of Arms of the four provinces in their order of Precedence” . . . "
The arms of the Dominion of Canada were redesigned in the 1920s, and changed in 1931 with independence from Britain, They were designed again in 1957, 1994, and in 2008 yet another re-design was suggested to add symbols of Canada's First Nations peoples.
We love our Canadian neighbours, but we wish they would make up their minds.
According to wikipedia, the blazon of the current arms of Canada are as follows: (
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"Crest: Upon a Royal helmet, a lion passant guardant or imperially crowned proper and holding in the dexter paw a maple leaf Gules.
Torse Argent and gules, the mantling gules doubled argent.
Escutcheon 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.
Supporters 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.
Compartment A wreath of roses, thistles, shamrocks and lilies proper.
Motto A Mari usque ad Mare, Latin for "from sea to sea."
Orders The ribbon of the Order of Canada inscribed Desiderantes Meliorem Patriam, Latin for "desiring a better country."
Other elements The whole ensigned by the Royal Crown proper."