Symbols herald Manitoba history

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/05/2020 (1594 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If the Golden Boy had been shorter — and not so modern looking — he might have found a place on the province’s coat of arms.

Instead, the idea of the Golden Boy was discarded and the coat of arms, the heraldic symbol for Manitoba, stayed with the well-known provincial motif of the buffalo along with beaver, unicorn and horse symbols.

Don Leitch knows that because, as the clerk of executive council during the Gary Filmon government, he was there when talk first came up of replacing the province’s original arms — only on a shield at the time — with the full ornate coat of arms we have today, and helped guide the process.

“The Golden Boy came up in our conversations, but the heraldic advice we got was it is more a modern symbol,” Leitch said Monday, one day before Manitoba celebrates the 150th anniversary of when the federal government passed the act to make it a province.

“It also would have been hard to put a long tall Golden Boy on something shaped like a coat of arms. We were told you have to be careful not to confuse the coat of arms with other modern symbols.

“The Golden Boy is a phenomenal symbol and it sits on top of the (legislature) building. A coat of arms is intended to be looking forward, but with a look back at the past.”

The province’s original coat of arms, a green shield with the red and white Cross of St. George on top and a buffalo standing on a rock, was officially granted by King Edward VII, Queen Victoria’s son, and the current Queen’s great-grandfather, in 1905.

Leitch said the discussion of creating a new coat of arms was suggested by the Governor General’s office as something provinces without one could do to help celebrate the country’s 125th anniversary of Confederation in 1992.

Leitch said he brought the Governor General’s request to Premier Filmon who brought it to cabinet where the idea was approved.

Then a committee, with Leitch heading it, began working on ideas while getting input and feedback from the Chief of Heraldry with the Governor General’s office.

“It was ultimately a very smooth process,” he said.

“It wasn’t a two-month job — it extended for about a year.”

Leitch said the motto, Latin words meaning glorious and free, was taken from a line in the national anthem O Canada, while the word glorious is also in the lyrics of God Save the Queen.

“Glory is a good feeling,” he said. “It’s positive and forward looking. Alberta, representing that province, went with strong and free from the national anthem.”

Leitch said when the coat of arms was completed he recalls having to explain to members of cabinet what all of the symbolism meant because they knew it was the question that would be asked of them by their constituents.

“There is a lot in there,” he said.

“One minister, who I won’t name, said I’ve got to go back to taking history again.” 

In 1992, during a ceremony at the Manitoba Legislature, Filmon and Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn, the new coat of arms was officially put in place.

“It has been in place nearly 30 years,” Leitch said. “I think it will stand the test of time.

“You don’t change these things lightly.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca