Category: Know Your Mace

Know Your Mace – The House of Commons

Article 15 / 15 , Vol 41 No. 4 (Winter)

Know Your Mace – The House of Commons

The House of Commons cannot convene without its Mace. On February 3, 1916, when fire ravaged the Parliament Building, the original Mace was lost. In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the House used the Mace belonging to the Senate and then that of the Ontario Legislature until a temporary wooden Mace was fashioned. The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London, upon hearing of its destruction, commissioned a replacement. A new Mace was crafted by the renowned Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company Ltd. of London. It is similar in design to the House of Commons Mace at Westminster and is made of sterling silver with an amalgam of gold and mercury. As the Mace was commissioned during the reign of George V, the Royal cypher GR was placed around the vase-shaped head. This cypher was altered in 1953 and replaced with ER for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The new Mace was presented to Prime Minister Robert L. Borden on March 28, 1917, and first used in the House on May 16, 1917. The wooden Mace was kept and since 1977 is used when the House sits on February 3 to commemorate the anniversary of the fire. Continue reading “Know Your Mace – The House of Commons”

Know Your Mace – Senate (The Black Rod)

Article 9 / 9 , Vol 41 No. 3 (Autumn)

Know Your Mace – Senate (The Black Rod)

The Black Rod that is currently in use in the Senate of Canada is not the original Black Rod that was used at the time of Confederation. The first Black Rod of the Senate of Canada was lost in the fire that destroyed the original Parliament building in 1916. The new Black Rod was designed by Garrard & Co. Ltd and presented to Canada in 1918 on the occasion of a meeting in London of the Empire Parliamentary Association in the House of Lords Library.

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Know Your Mace – Senate

Article 5 / 10 , Vol 41 No. 2 (Summer)

Know Your Mace – Senate

The origins of the Senate mace are not precisely known. There is some evidence that this mace was used by the Legislative Council of the Province of Canada from 1841 to 1867. It was probably used even earlier by the Legislative Council of Lower Canada. Portions of the mace seem to date from the early nineteenth century, while other parts are almost certainly of later date.

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Know Your Mace – Nova Scotia

Know Your Mace – Nova Scotia

The current Mace of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly has been in use since it was gifted to the House on March 5, 1930 by Chief Justice Robert Edward Harris, the fourteenth Chief Justice of the Province and his wife. It is silver gilt, measuring four feet in height and weighs approximately 18 pounds. The four sides of the Mace depict the Royal Crown, the Armorial Achievement of Nova Scotia, the present (before Confederation) Great Seal of the Province, and the Speaker in his robes of office. Also found on the Mace is the floral emblem of Nova Scotia, the mayflower and the Scottish thistle. The Mace was manufactured in England by Elkington and Company, Limited.

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Know Your Mace: Quebec Vol 40 No 1

Article 1 / 11 , Vol 40 No. 1 (Spring)

Vol 40 No 1 Know Your Mace: Quebec

The Mace of the Québec National Assembly was made in 1867 by jeweller Charles O. Zollikoffer. It is decorated with acanthus and lotus leaves. Its cup is surmounted by a crown decorated with a cross and the letters “ER” for “Elizabeth Regina”.

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Know Your Mace: Ontario Vol 39 No 4

Article 1 / 13 , Vol 39 No 4 (Winter)

Vol 39 No 4Know Your Mace: Ontario

Made of copper and gold-plated, Ontario’s Mace was crafted in Ottawa in 1867. It is the third Mace to be used in the province’s history since the establishment of the Legislature during colonial times in 1792. The province’s first Mace was captured by American soldiers during the War of 1812 and later returned, and the second – dating from around 1845 – ended up in the federal parliament following Confederation in 1867 and was subsequently destroyed during a 1916 fire.

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Know Your Mace Manitoba Vol 39 No 3

Article 1 / 11 , Vol 39 No. 3 (Autumn)

Vol 39 No 3Know Your Mace Manitoba

Manitoba’s original Mace was carved out of the hub of a Red River cart wheel by a soldier with the Wolseley Expedition Force (sent out to deal with the Riel Rebellion in 1869). This Mace was used for a period of 13 years between March 15, 1871 and March 12, 1884.

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Know Your Mace Saskatchewan Vol 39 No 2

Article 2 / 10 , Vol 39 No. 2 (Summer)

Know Your Mace Saskatchewan

The Mace currently in use in the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan was made in 1906 and used for the first time in March of that year at the opening of the First Session of the First Legislative Assembly. Purchased from Ryrie Bros. Ltd. of Toronto at a cost of $340.00, it is made of heavy gold-plated brass and is about four feet long. The head consists of a Royal Crown with the arches surmounted by a Maltese cross and bears the Royal Coat-of-Arms on the top indicating the Royal Authority. Each side is decorated with a sheaf of wheat, representing the province’s agricultural wealth, a beaver representing Canada and the monogram E.R. VII, representing the sovereign at the time, Edward VII. The shaft and base are ornamented with a shamrock, thistle and rose intertwined.

A Latin inscription around the Royal Coat of Arms reads in English, “Edward the Seventh, by the Grace of God of British Isles and Lands beyond the sea which are under British rule, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India”.

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Know Your Mace: Alberta Vol 39 No 1

Article 1 / 12 , Vol 39 No.1 (Spring)

Vol 39 No 1Know Your Mace: Alberta

Alberta’s first Legislature was caught off guard just before its first sitting: there was no Mace. Because nobody so much as suggested that a sitting could be held without it, Alexander Rutherford’s Liberal government ordered the rush construction of one from Watson Brothers Jewelry of Calgary.

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