Justin Trudeau is preparing to attack the most famous symbol of Quebec and French-speaking America: the fleur-de-lys.
According to colleague John Ivison of NationalPost, at the time of King Charles III’s coronation on Saturday, the government would unveil Canada’s new crown, seen above our coat of arms.
The new crown of Canada will be that of Charles III, which will replace that of the late Elizabeth II.
As with Elizabeth’s coronation in the 1950s, the coat of arms of Canada will then be modified by the addition of this new crown of King Charles.
I traded with Ivison. He told me that, according to expert and author Christopher McCreery, the Trudeau government will present a new crown without religious symbols.
Thus, just like the Christian crosses that are presently there, the fleur-de-lis will be removed.
I had a most interesting conversation with Mr. McCreery. He truly has unparalleled expertise on these issues.
Historically – for a very long time – the fleur-de-lis has also been seen as a representation of the cross, he explained to me.
This decision to remove the crosses and fleur-de-lys from the crown would in fact be in continuity with another decision of the Trudeau government, that of removing the mention “Defender of the faith” from the official title of the new king of Canada.
Snowflakes?
In recognition of the two founding peoples, the symbols of Great Britain and France have always been found in the foreground of the crown and coat of arms.
If today’s Canada is a multicultural country with two official languages, that does not mean that our French and British origins never existed! Erasing symbols of our French heritage will not erase this historical reality.
Don’t be surprised to see snowflakes appear instead of crosses and fleur-de-lis in the new wreath that will be unveiled on Saturday.
If heraldry is the art of the symbolic, the snowflake, light and impermanent, seems to represent this government so well.
I had the pleasure of working for a few years in Manitoba.
Their symbol is the mighty bison. From the huge statues in front of their provincial legislature to the depiction in their coat of arms, the bison are anatomically faithfully depicted there.
Imagine if someone decided that was no longer politically correct and sought to sterilize them to make them less offensive!
It will be interesting to see Mr. Trudeau eventually remove the unicorn from our coat of arms. However, nothing is less certain, because if there is an animal that seems to symbolize it, it is the unicorn!
There is one important thing that we could have done with our coat of arms, after consultation with the First Nations, Inuit and Métis: give them a well-deserved important place.
political maneuver
Instead of being a unifier, Trudeau seeks to provoke a reaction.
He could then mount his unicorn and gallop in defense of his ideals with the certainty that his political base will be very happy.
By removing symbols from our history, Trudeau risks getting stuck in the fleur-de-lis on the carpet!