Senate of Canada - Chamber and Symbols

Chamber and Symbols

The Senate and the House of Commons sit in separate chambers in the Centre Block on Parliament Hill, located in Ottawa, Ontario.

The chamber in which the Senate sits is sometimes called the red chamber, due to the red cloth that adorns the chamber as well as the throne. The red Senate Chamber is lavishly decorated, in contrast with the more modest green Commons Chamber. This decorative scheme is inherited from the British Houses of Parliament, where the Lords chamber is a lavish room with red benches, whereas the Commons chamber is more sparsely decorated and is furnished in green.

There are chairs and desks on both sides of the chamber, divided by a centre aisle. The speaker's chair is at one end of the chamber; in front of it is the clerk's table. Various clerks sit at the table, ready to advise the speaker and the senators on procedure when necessary. Members of the government sit on the benches on the speaker's right, while members of the opposition occupy the benches on the speaker's left.

The Canadian Heraldic Authority on April 15, 2008, granted the Senate, as an institution, a heraldic achievement composed of the chamber's mace (representing the Queen's authority in the upper chamber) behind the escutcheon of the Royal Arms of Canada (representing the Queen herself, in whose name the Senate deliberates).