 | Prairie Heraldry |
There are many cities in Western Canada which have coats of arms. Many (particularly in Alberta, it seems), unfortunately, only have assumed arms, that is, they made them up and made them "official" by passing a by-law that says they are. Thus, they are technically not real coats of arms, but they are used as such anyway. The reasons for the use of such "bogus" coats of arms are normally:
- The city council doesn't know or care about heraldry
- The city council doesn't want to pay the registration fee
- Any Heraldry Authority would laugh itself silly at some of the cluttered and ridiculous coats of arms created by some people who fail to realize that the key word in heraldry is SYMBOLISM, not SNAPSHOT (although, they -did- approve of the Albertan coat of arms).
Often, cities which adopt "crests" with no knowledge of heraldry come up with horribly cluttered shields. Half the time, these get replaced by simple logos (some of which would make better arms than the device they replace!).
The reason for the small number of cities in this list is not that I'm fussy about which arms to put up, but because I'm still trying to track them down. If you know of any coats of arms that I've missed (and there are lots, I know), please let me know where I can find them (or mail me a colour copy that I can scan). Any page with the badge of the Heraldry Society of Canada is one where I scanned the coat of arms from an HSC publication, either Beddoe's Canadian Heraldry, or an article in Heraldry in Canada. All images are copyrighted by the municipalities and provinces they belong to, and protected by normal trademark laws.
Those which are legally granted are also protected by the heraldic laws and traditions of Canada and the rest of the British Commonwealth.
| Arms of the province of Alberta. |
 | Arms of Bon Accord, Alta. |
| Arms of Bow Island, Alta. |
| Arms of Calgary, Alta. |
| Arms of Camrose, Alta. |
| Arms of Eckville, Alta. |
| Arms of Fort MacLeod, Alta. |
| Arms of Medicine Hat, Alta. |
| Arms of Peace River, Alta. |
| Arms of Red Deer (another cluttered one) |
| Arms of St. Albert, Alta. |
| Arms of the province of Manitoba. |
| Arms of Winnipeg, Man. |
| Arms of Boissevain, Man. |
| Arms of Brandon, Man. |
| Arms of Portage La Prairie, Man. |
| Arms of the province of Saskatchewan. |
| Arms of Melville, Sask. |
| Arms of Prince Albert, Sask. |
| Arms of Saskatoon, Sask. |
| Arms of Weyburn, Sask. |
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