Coat of arms of Montreal
coat of arms
The first coat of arms of Montreal was designed by Jacques Viger, the first mayor of Montreal, and adopted in 1833 by the city councillors. Modifications were made some one hundred five years later and adopted on 21 March 1938, and again on 13 September 2017, resulting in the version currently in use. The coat of arms was the only city emblem representing Montreal until 1981, when a stylized logo was developed for common daily use, reserving the coat of arms for ceremonial occasions.
History
The first coat of arms was displayed on a white shield, which had a red saltire with four different charges between the arms, representative of the four main components of the population as viewed by Mayor Jacques Viger and the city council in 1833, when the arms were designed and adopted. To the top, a rose was for the English heritage of the population, the dexter a thistle for the Scots, the sinister a sprig of clover for the Irish heritage of the city, and to the bottom base a beaver for the French who originally settled the territory and traded in furs.
The blazon of the shield in the first coat of arms was as follows: Argent, a saltire gules between in chief a rose of the last leaved and slipped, in base a beaver to the dexter with a branch, and in fess a thistle leaved and slipped and a sprig of shamrock proper. The motto on the scroll below the shield is Concordia Salus, a Latin phrase translated as "salvation through harmony" or in French as "le salut par la concorde".
In 1938, the city council requested that the arms be updated to better reflect Montreal's population. The changes replaced the saltire with a cross, which is reminiscent of both the St. George's Cross often associated with England, and also with Christian missionary missions that could represent the principles of the French Catholics that founded the city.
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