Shields down

June 26, 2007 12:10 PM

Robert Watt, Canada's Chief Herald is retiring. He has held the office since its inception in 1988 and has developed an international reputation for practicing an old world art in a new world context. Among his more interesting designs are those for the municipality of Delta, British Columbia, an Ottawa synagogue and the personal coat of arms for our Haitian-born Governor-General, Michaëlle Jean.
posted by salishsea (6 comments total)

You can find more Canadian coats of arms at the Public Registrar of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada.
posted by salishsea at 12:11 PM on June 26, 2007

Previous post about the Canadian Heraldic Authority.
posted by Space Coyote at 12:18 PM on June 26, 2007

it's so weird for a synagogue to have a coat of arms--incredibly weird.
posted by amberglow at 12:18 PM on June 26, 2007

Thanks for the neat links. I must say, however, that all of this leaves one question unanswered, a question that the heraldry community has refused to address in the face of my repeated inquiries: or what, exactly?
posted by sy at 1:56 PM on June 26, 2007

He definitely did good stuff. I spent a long time paging through the Heraldic Authority site when I made that post SC linked to.
posted by blacklite at 8:31 PM on June 26, 2007

He didn't do all the stuff on the Heraldic Authority site. There is a large team of artists there who create these coats of arms. Watt's contribution was developing a new approach to heraldry in Canada that was at once modern and still in line with traditional practices. Several British Columbian municipalities around Vancouver sport his designs in the days when he was getting started.

...and thanks for the previous post the the CHA.
posted by salishsea at 10:02 AM on June 27, 2007