From lacrosse myths to kilts: 5 things you may not know about Canadian symbols

The Saskatchewan Rush celebrate their win over the Buffalo Bandits in game 2 of the National Lacrosse League finals in Saskatoon, Sask., on Sunday, May 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Liam Richards

OTTAWA — Parliamentarians likely will get a chance later this year to debate whether to adopt a livestock brand as an official national symbol.

A bill to create the brand was introduced earlier in June by Saskatchewan Conservative MP Steven Bonk.

If the bill passes, the brand will become Canada’s 10th national symbol — joining O Canada, the coat of arms and the maple tree.

Here are five things you may not know about the official symbols that say “Canada.”

1. The beaver does not stand alone

Everyone knows the beaver stands for ingenuity, craftsmanship and hard work. For 50 years, the beaver has been an official national symbol of Canada.

These bucktoothed builders have long been associated with Canadian history. They were the foundation of the 17th century fur trade and have appeared on totem poles.

The beaver even predates the Maple Leaf as a Canadian symbol. The animal appeared on the first Canadian postage stamp issued in 1851.

But the beaver isn’t the only animal on the list. While the loon that graces the dollar coin and the Canada geese that can be found hissing at joggers near almost every body of water in the country never made it to the official list, one breed of horse did.

In 2002, the National Horse Act became law, making the breed known as the “Canadian horse” a national symbol of equine excellence.

The breed dates back to 1665, when King Louis XIV sent mares and stallions from the royal stables to New France.

The Canadian horse emerged as a distinct breed about a century later, through the mixing of Norman, Breton, Arabian and other breeds. They’re well adapted to Canada’s harsh winter conditions.

The Canadian horse typically has a dark coat and is relatively small. The versatile breed has been used in agriculture and logging and some were used as cavalry horses in the American Civil War.

2. This tartan is not just for Scots

Canada’s newest national symbol is the Maple Leaf Tartan, adopted through a ministerial decree in 2011.

The tartan was first designed by Toronto businessman David Weiser in 1964, ahead of Canada’s centennial in 1967.

Weiser’s design uses green, gold, red and brown to represent a maple leaf’s life cycle.

Canadian Forces pipers and drummers who don’t belong to a specific military regiment wear the tartan when performing.

The design is also officially recognized by Scotland in The Scottish Register of Tartans.

3. Red and white slight?

What’s more Canadian than red and white? The colours adorn the flag, athletes wear them proudly at international tournaments and many people will be wearing red and white face paint on Canada Day.

But Canada has never formally adopted national colours.

The belief that red and white are Canada’s national colours comes from the Dec. 17, 1921 edition of the Canada Gazette, in which King George V issued a proclamation describing Canada’s first national symbol — the coat of arms.

The heraldic description of the shield talks about a wreath of maple leaves in “argent and gules” — heraldic language used to describe white or silver and red respectively.

The federal government says that while it was “long believed” that this declaration made red and white Canada’s national colours, the proclamation does not contain that language.

While several countries do adopt their flag’s colours as an official symbol, Canada never took that step.

4. National sport history obscured by Beers

Contrary to popular belief, lacrosse was not Canada’s national sport before hockey. In fact, both of them became national sports on the same day in 1994.

For decades, many Canadians were convinced that lacrosse was the sole national sport — mainly because the father of modern lacrosse kept saying it was.

William George Beers drafted the first known written rules for lacrosse in 1860, adapting them from games played by the Algonquin and Mohawk nations.

Beers also established in 1867 the National Lacrosse Association of Canada — the country’s first national sports governing body — and lobbied Parliament to adopt lacrosse as the national sport.

The Canadian Encyclopedia says Beers began to claim lacrosse received this distinction but there is no evidence Parliament formally recognized the game as a national symbol.

Almost 100 years later, a bill was introduced in April 1965 to make lacrosse Canada’s national game.

The text of that bill says “there is an attempt” to appoint “a lesser game” as Canada’s national pastime. It does not identify that “lesser game.”

“The purpose of this Bill is to rectify what was probably an oversight on the part of the Fathers of Confederation,” the bill reads.

MPs debating the bill at the time noted the widely held belief that lacrosse was already the national sport, with sports publications and encyclopedias stating it as fact.

The bill did not become law before Parliament was dissolved for an election later that year.

It wasn’t until 1994 that Parliament passed a bill making lacrosse Canada’s national summer sport and hockey its official winter sport.

5. A Canadian icon doesn’t make the cut

Not all attempts to establish a new national symbol are immediately successful.

Five versions of the National Horse Act went to the legislative glue factory between 1995 and 2002 before it finally became law.

A bill to make the Maple Leaf Tartan a symbol was first introduced in the Senate in 2010 but did not make it past first reading. The tartan had to wait for the ministerial decree a year later.

Two other national symbol bills never made it past first reading and it doesn’t appear there was ever an attempt to revive them.

A 1998 bill to adopt a “symbol for the promotion of national unity” never passed.

This apparently original symbol design, titled “Canadian Unity Pledge,” shows two concentric circles, with the outer ring saying “Canada” and “strong free” in both English and French. The inner circle bears a maple leaf along with “from sea to sea” in the official languages.

Underneath the circles, a message reads “Canada is Our Country, One Country, Strong and Free, From Sea to Sea.”

A PDF version of the bill provided by the Library of Parliament only shows the symbol in black and white. There is no written description of what the colours were supposed to be, but the leaf was likely meant to be red.

A legislative attempt to make the iconic dress uniform of the RCMP a national symbol also failed.

A bill to make the red serge a “symbol of Canadian sovereignty” was introduced in February 1990, but the Library of Parliament said it does not to appear to have progressed past first reading.

While a Mountie wearing the red serge is an instantly recognizable Canadian image, the uniform is not in the roster of national symbols.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2025.

David Baxter, The Canadian Press