What is Canada’s motto?
- A Mari Usque Ad Mare — “from sea to sea”
- Peace, Order, and Good Government
- The true North strong and free
- Unity in Diversity
Answer: A Mari Usque Ad Mare — “from sea to sea”
Canada’s national motto is A Mari Usque Ad Mare, Latin for “from sea to sea.” Canada adopted it, along with an official coat of arms, as an expression of national pride after the First World War. “Peace, Order, and Good Government” is a key phrase from the British North America Act, not the motto.
Learn more: Coat of arms, motto and other emblems
- Canada’s motto is A Mari Usque Ad Mare, Latin for “from sea to sea.”
- The coat of arms and motto were adopted after the First World War.
- The coat of arms has symbols of England, France, Scotland and Ireland, plus red maple leaves.
- The arms appear on dollar bills, government documents and public buildings.
- The idea of “dominion from sea to sea” comes from Psalm 72. It inspired Sir Leonard Tilley to suggest the name Dominion of Canada in 1864.
- The Hudson’s Bay Company adopted the beaver as its symbol centuries ago.
- In 1834 the beaver became an emblem of the St. Jean Baptiste Society, a French-Canadian patriotic group.
- The beaver is on the five-cent coin and on the coats of arms of Saskatchewan, Alberta, Montreal and Toronto.
- The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP, “the Mounties”) are the national police force and one of Canada’s best-known symbols. They began as the North West Mounted Police in 1873.
- The caribou (reindeer) is a symbol of Canada’s North.