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Mr. Flanagan said he wears it every day when the temperature drops below -20C. He doesn’t really see what all the fuss is about.

“All my students have seen it. I wear it on campus as well, it’s well-known here,” he said. “For really cold, snowy days I have my outfit, I call it the ‘Full Buffalo.’ There’s the buffalo coat, sealskin boots, horsehide mitts and a beaver hat. It makes me an icon of Canadian history.”

The ensemble doesn’t receive any odd stares, he said. In fact “it is kind of a chick magnet. Women are drawn to the coat. They want to come up and feel the coat.”

Mr. Flanagan was given the coat as a gift from his wife’s brother. Initially the jacket was supposed to go to her, but it was entirely too large.

“It is heavy, but not so heavy that you can’t walk around in it comfortably. It’s a little awkward getting in and out of cars, but I can do it.”

Rhonda Euteneier-Lamb, manager of the RCMP historical collections unit, said buffalo coats were part of RCMP officers’ free kit until herds began to decline precipitously at the turn of the 19th century. The coats enjoyed a revival in 1930 when the police were able to obtain 700 hides from the parks service.

The last of the full-length coats, as seen on Parliament Hill, were replaced with a blue coat only in 1961.

“They were really used because of the cold prairie temperatures. They were very popular because they kept your body warm. They had large collars so you could roll them up higher to protect your ears and protect your neck, that kind of thing,” she said.