[14][16] In use since 1921, it is closely modelled after the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, with French and distinctive Canadian elements replacing or added to those derived from the British version.

The maple leaves in the shield, blazoned "proper" (i.e., in natural colour), were originally drawn vert (green), but were redrawn gules (red) in 1957 and a circlet of the Order of Canada was added to the arms for limited use in 1987.

While this was not done for the first Great Seal, it was through that reference that the arrangement became the de facto arms for Canada until 1921,[25] which were used on the first Red Ensign carried by Canadian troops at Vimy Ridge in 1917.

[17] Heraldists considered nine quarterings on a shield as too convoluted for a national symbol and,[17] by 1915, a push had begun to design a new coat of arms for Canada.

Though Chadwick had depicted the clothing and regalia accurately, Joseph Pope rejected the idea, stating, "I myself do not see any necessity for commemorating the Indians at all.

The Canadian Commissioner-General in Paris discreetly confirmed with French officials that the coat of arms would not spark a diplomatic spat.

However, Forrest Pass, a curator at Library and Archives Canada, determined there is no record of either the King or the committee giving much importance to the mantling and the royal proclamation of the coat of arms makes no mention of national colours, specifically.

[37] Member of Parliament Pat Martin introduced, in June 2008, a motion into the House of Commons calling on the government to amend the coat of arms to incorporate symbols representing Canada's First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples,[38] as Chadwick had suggested in 1917.

[53] The full achievement of the coat of arms has been used by the Canadian government on occasion on a plain red flag, such as in 1967 for the country's centennial celebrations.

"[57] In addition, under Crown copyright, "permission is always required when the work is being revised, adapted, or translated, regardless if the purpose of the reproduction is for personal or public non-commercial distribution.

[60] Six additional standards for use by other members of the Canadian royal family were created in the 2010s, all using a similar design with the banner of the arms as their base.

[67] The heraldic blazon of Canada's coat of arms, as declared in the 1921 proclamation, is: Tierced in fesse the first and second divisions containing the quarterly coat following, namely, 1st, gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or, 2nd, Or a lion rampant within a double tressure flory-counter-flory gules, 3rd, azure a harp Or stringed argent, 4th, azure, three fleurs-de-lis Or, and the third division argent three maple leaves conjoined on one stem proper.

And for supporters on the dexter a lion rampant Or holding a lance argent, point Or, flying therefrom to the dexter the Union Flag, and on the sinister, a unicorn argent armed crined and unguled Or, gorged with a coronet composed of crosses-patée and fleurs-de-lis a chain affixed thereto reflexed of the last, and holding a like lance flying therefrom to the sinister a banner azure charged with three fleurs-de-lis Or; the whole ensigned with the Imperial Crown proper and below the shield upon a wreath composed of roses, thistles, shamrocks and lillies a scroll azure inscribed with the motto A mari usque ad mare.

[71] The fifth charge, a sprig of red maple leaves at the bottom, is, at first, a distinctly French Canadian symbol[72] that became gradually identified with the entire country throughout the end of the 19th century.

[27] They were first proposed as a symbol in 1834, were established in 1868 on the arms of Quebec and Ontario and officially became the national emblem in 1965, with the proclamation of the Flag of Canada.

Beginning in the 1960s, there developed an interpretation of the leaves as symbolic of Canadian multiculturalism; the country's different groups of people separate, but also joined together.