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Emblazoning our passports, decorating our schools and government buildings, the Canadian Coat of Arms provides a regal je ne sais quoi to the loftiest of federal documents and institutions. It even features prominently in our prime minister’s Twitter postings.

Both archaic and gorgeous, it is a symbol in need of re-imagining.

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Its current version, introduced in the early 1920s, was intended to portray Canada as a distinct nation, even as its designers employed the most imperial of symbols to do so. The message is straightforward: To be a Canadian is to be – or aspire to be – the product of British genetics and sensibilities.

The Canadian Coat of Arms reflects nothing of Canada’s first peoples. Indeed, it doesn’t represent Canadians whose roots extend beyond the British Isles. There are other absences. The motto “From Sea to Sea,” inscribed in Latin on an unfurling ribbon below the shield, repudiates the claims that Canadian icebreaker C3 is asserting on its three-ocean journey from Toronto to Victoria. It has been proposed that it be amended to “From Sea to Sea to Sea,” a change that would also serve to represent the people of the North.