Culture of Canada - Symbols

Symbols

Official symbols of Canada include the maple leaf, beaver, and the Canadian Horse. Many official symbols of the country such as the Flag of Canada have been changed or modified over the past few decades in order to 'Canadianize' them and de-emphasise or remove references to the United Kingdom. Other prominent symbols include the Canada goose, loon and more recently, the totem pole and Inuksuk. Symbols of the monarchy in Canada continue to be featured in, for example, the Arms of Canada and armed forces Her Majesty's Canadian Ship. The designation 'Royal' remains for institutions as varied as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. During unification of the forces in the 1960s, a renaming of the branches took place, resulting in the "royal designations" of the navy and air force being abandoned. On August 16, 2011, the Government of Canada announced that the name "Air Command" was re-assuming the air force's original historic name, Royal Canadian Air Force, "Land Command" was re-assuming the name Canadian Army, and "Maritime Command" was re-assuming the name Royal Canadian Navy. The change was made to better reflect Canada's military heritage and align Canada with other key Commonwealth of Nations whose militaries use the royal designation.

Read more about this topic:  Culture Of Canada

Famous quotes containing the word symbols:

    I do not deny that there may be other well-founded causes for the hatred which various classes feel toward politicians, but the main one seems to me that politicians are symbols of the fact that every class must take every other class into account.
    José Ortega Y Gasset (1883–1955)

    Many older wealthy families have learned to instill a sense of public service in their offspring. But newly affluent middle-class parents have not acquired this skill. We are using our children as symbols of leisure-class standing without building in safeguards against an overweening sense of entitlement—a sense of entitlement that may incline some young people more toward the good life than toward the hard work that, for most of us, makes the good life possible.
    David Elkind (20th century)