Premier Dwight Ball guaranteed a review of official symbols such as the provincial coat of arms last weekend, as had been promoted by Torngat Mountains MHA Randy Edmunds.
The resolution was brought forward because the provincial coat of arms is considered outdated, as it depicts a 17-century understanding of what Europeans thought the Beothuk wore and how they looked.
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Beyond that, there is an elk on top of the coat of arms, an animal that isn’t native to the province.
While the depiction is historically inaccurate in retrospect, the coat of arms, which was created in 1638 but dropped soon after, was officially reintroduced in the 1920s after the Imperial War Graves Commission sought a coat of arms to use to memorialize Newfoundland’s contributions to the First World War in France.
The Telegram took to the streets to see how people felt about changing the coat of arms. What do you think? Take our poll below.
andrew.waterman@thetelegram.com
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