The largest heraldry site on the net, with presently coats of arms on-line !

Canadian Civic Heraldry

WINNIPEG

Province : Manitoba
Granted : ?

Origin/meaning :
The City has had two official coats of arms or crests in its history.
The original bore the motto, "Commerce, prudence, industry." Elements shown on the crest include a bison, once very common on the prairie, a steam engine to represent the coming of the railroad to Winnipeg and sheaves of wheat to symbolise the staple crop that brought prosperity to a young city.

The current official Crest was introduced in 1972 and was granted by the College of Arms in London, England. This crest, which symbolises both the events of unification and the traditional heritage of the combined areas, was adopted by Council January 24th, 1973.

The significance of the emblazonry upon the crest is as follows:
The Fort Garry Gate at the top represents Winnipeg's early history as a Hudson's Bay fur trading centre. The Fort Garry Gate is all that remains of Upper Fort Garry. It can be found, with some looking, somewhere near the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers, off Main Street.
Beneath the Gate is a shield divided into two parts. The top part contains thirteen gold stars on a blue field, symbolizing the thirteen former municipal governments that were unified to create the new City.

The blue background depicts Winnipeg's clear blue skies. Below the sky, a prairie crocus upon a plain green field represents Winnipeg's location as a prairie city.

The ribbons at the top and bottom represent the ribbon that ties the community together.

The motto of the crest, "UNUM CUM VIRTUTE MULTORUM" is Latin for "One with the strength of many". Two thoughts lie behind this motto. Firstly, Winnipeg is perhaps uniquely one city formed of people of all races; and secondly, it is one city formed from many cities.

Sources : The data were taken from here and send to me by Terry Smith.

Home © Ralf Hartemink 1996, ->

See also my other sites Food-Info.net and Food Dictionary