The City of Ottawa

This coat of arms was granted by the College of Arms in 1954. The main part of the shield consists of a blue wavy cross (symbolic of the Ottawa river, along with its tributaries the Gatineau and Rideau, which flows through the city), while the crown and maple leaf represent the royal authority embodied in the capital city of the nation. The blank areas around the cross represent the fact that much of Ottawa's greatness "lies before her and is still to be realized". The central item in the chief is Champlain's astrolabe (used to explore the area in 1613, and on display in the Museum of Civilization); to the left are two arrows crossed over a canoe paddle (representing the Outaouas First Nation, after whom the river and city were named), and to the right are a spade, pick-axe, and grenade (representing the Royal Engineers who built the Rideau canal under the supervision of Lt. Col. John By). The crest and the dexter supporter (a white pine and a lumberjack) represent the original occupation of most of the city before it was declared the capital. The bezant bearing the oak (hanging from the pine) represents strength. The sinister supporter is an officer of the Civil Service Rifle Regiment.
It may not be a great design, but it is a heck of an improvement over the original concept (shown below), even though they kept the dull motto, and it is much better than what the new city council was attempting to replace it with (even more below).

This coat of arms was designed somewhere in the 19th century, and was actually used until 1954 when someone realized what a mess it was. This is probably the best example of how low heraldry had sunk in that time period. In the words of Lt. Cdr. Alan Beddoe, F.H.S.C. (author of Beddoe's Heraldry, from which most of these arms have been scanned), "The only thing vaguely heraldric about this horror is the attempt at the crest, which is a badly drawn hand brandishing an axe. It is obvious there was no authenticity behind this frightful design, for it could not even have passed the dustman on the steps of the College of Arms!"

As far as I can make out, the quarters of the shield contain murals of a steam locomotive; some sort of staircase waterfall (actually the locks on Rideau Canal, built under the supervision of Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers, thus the original name of "Bytown"); an idyllic woodlands scene with sunshine, timber and deer; and Chaudiere Falls. The supporters are Justice and a blacksmith (representing ther "Dignity of Labour"), and the "crest" has not only a badly drawn hand brandishing an axe, but also a sheaf of wheat, a beehive, and a plough. The compartment contains thistles, shamrocks, and roses, to show that the city was founded by the British (Scots, Irish, and English).

This "coat of arms" beats anything I've ever seen for being cluttered and ridiculous.
Thanks to John Coughlin for identifying the Rideau Canal and Falls for me.

Recently, Ottawa was amalgamated with several other cities in the area, incuding Gloucester and Carleton. It was thought that the new city, like the amalgamated city of Toronto, should have a completely new coat of arms. The city council, in its wisdom, decided that the Canadian Heraldry Authority was too expensive (charging between 1 and 2 thousand dollars for a full grant) and went to a private design firm to come up with a new coat of arms. Three designs were created (each costing about twice what the CHA would have charged for a full grant), none of them being very good. Heraldists across the nation cried out, saying, "These are ridiculous!", so the city council eventually did go to the CHA. Unfortunately, they insisted that the heralds come up with something nearly identical to what they had already paid the design firms for (they didn't want to have wasted the money)- shown above. Supposedly, the unheraldic swooshes are meant to represent "paths, rivers, and the information superhighway, all moving in harmony", and the globe (as the crest) supposedly means that Ottawa is a world-class city (it would be much more appropriate for Global Communications, or the owner of the Globe and Mail). The coronet is composed of fleur-de-lys and maple leaves, to represent "both Canadians and Francophones"- insinuating that Francophones are not Canadians. The lack of supporters, insulting for a city with the national importance of Ottawa, stems from the debate between those who think that humans are inappropriate as supporters (reason one- many people (mostly members of minorities) are either left out and feel snubbed, or they're included as supporters and feel that the coat of arms shows them as being oppressed (yes, people have claimed this in serious scholarly publications). Reason two- it's very hard to tell one costume from another- most pre-WWI soldiers look the same to me, regardless if they're Royal Engineers or 1812 Militia or 1776 Redcoats. But I digress) and those who feel animals are inappropriate as supporters ("The animals didn't build the city- people did. We'd be a laughing stock if we had a beast on our coat of arms."- conveniently forgetting that beasts support our national arms and most of our provincial arms, not to mention the vast number of other national arms which feature lions, eagles, griffons, bears, &c.. Apparently, most of the world is a laughing stock).

Luckily, the heraldists spoke out once more, and city council chose to retain their historic arms, and Canadian heraldry is spared the introduction of a "swooshy thing" as a charge. Image taken from the Ottawa Citizen.


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