Regional tartans of Canada are represented by all

Canada's Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total ...

provinces and territories having a regional

tartan Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

, as do many other regional divisions in Canada. Tartans were first brought to Canada by Scottish settlers; the first province to adopt one officially was

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

in 1956 (when registered at the Court of the Lord Lyon; adopted by law in 1963), and the most recent province was

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, in 2000. Except for the tartan of Quebec, all of the provincial and territorial tartans are officially recognized and registered in the books of the Court of the Lord Lyon, King of Arms of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Maple leaf tartan

The official tartan for Canada as a whole is known as the "Maple leaf tartan" and became an official national symbol in 2011. The maple leaf tartan was designed in 1964 by David Weiser to commemorate the new

Canadian flag The national flag of Canada (french: le Drapeau national du Canada), often simply referred to as the Canadian flag or, unofficially, as the Maple Leaf or ' (; ), consists of a red field with a white square at its centre in the ratio of , in ...

. The four colours reflect the colours of the maple leaf as it changes through the seasons—green in the

spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season) Spring, also known as springtime, is one of the four temperate seasons, succeeding winter and preceding summer. There are various technical definitions of spring, but local usage of ...

, gold in the early autumn, red at the first frost, and brown after falling. The Maple Leaf tartan is used by the Royal Canadian Regiment Pipes and Drums, and has been worn by the second, third and fourth Battalions. Its International Tartan Index number is 2034.

Provincial and territorial tartans

Alberta

The idea for Alberta's official tartan began in 1961 at the

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Rehabilitation Society, a charitable organization set up to teach useful skills to the

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

.Lewis 2004: 284 The tartan was designed by Alison Lamb, the Society's director, and Ellen Neilsen, the weaving instructor, and was officially adopted by the province in an Act of the

Legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...

on March 30, 1961. The green represents the province's forests, while the gold represents its grain fields. The shade of blue, as well as the gold, are also Alberta's provincial colours. Its

International Tartan Index The Scottish Tartans Society (STS) was a Learned society, society committed to the recording and preservation of woven tartan designs from around the world; it maintained the ''Register of All Publicly Known Tartans''. The society was first form ...

number is 2055. Alberta also has a dress tartan used for formal attire or special events. It contains the same colours as the Alberta tartan with large sections of white. File:Tartan of Alberta.png, Alberta's tartan. File:Alberta Dress Tartan.jpg, Alberta's dress tartan

British Columbia

British Columbia's official tartan was designed by Eric Ward in 1966, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1866 union of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. Its main colours are blue and red, representing the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

and the

maple leaf The maple leaf is the characteristic leaf of the maple tree. It is the most widely recognized national symbol of Canada. History of use in Canada By the early 1700s, the maple leaf had been adopted as an emblem by the French Canadians along th ...

, and also contains green for

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, white for the province's official flower, the

Pacific Dogwood ''Cornus nuttallii'', the Pacific dogwood, western dogwood, or mountain dogwood, is a species of dogwood tree native to western North America. Description It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree, reaching tall, often with a canopy spre ...

, and gold from the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

. Its International Tartan Index number is 808.

Manitoba

Manitoba's official tartan was designed in 1962 by Hugh Kirkwood Rankine, and officially adopted by the province in "The Coat of Arms, Emblems and the Manitoba Tartan Act", which received

Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

on May 1 of that year. The red in the design originates from the

Red River Colony The Red River Colony (or Selkirk Settlement), also known as Assinboia, was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, on of land in British North America. This land was granted to Douglas by the Hudson's Bay ...

, founded in 1812 by the Earl of Selkirk, Thomas Douglas, and

croft Croft may refer to: Occupations * Croft (land), a small area of land, often with a crofter's dwelling * Crofting, small-scale food production * Bleachfield, an open space used for the bleaching of fabric, also called a croft Locations In the Uni ...

ers from the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands ( sco, the Hielands; gd, a’ Ghàidhealtachd , 'the place of the Gaels') is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland S ...

, and the blue was taken from the

Clan Douglas Clan Douglas is an ancient clan or noble house from the Scottish Lowlands. Taking their name from Douglas in Lanarkshire, their leaders gained vast territories throughout the Borders, Angus, Lothian, Moray, and also in France and Sweden. ...

tartan. In addition, the green lines represent the varying cultures and races that make up Manitoban society, and the gold represents Manitoba's agricultural history. Its International Tartan Index number is 144.

New Brunswick

The official tartan of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

was commissioned by William Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook in 1959 and designed by the Loomcrofters in

Gagetown, New Brunswick Gagetown (2016 population: 711) is a village in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is situated on the west bank of the Saint John River and is the county's shire town. History Acadians Gagetown was originally named Grimross by the A ...

. It was officially adopted as the provincial tartan by an Order in Council in the same year. The "beaver brown" colour was included to honour Beaverbrook, and the red honours the courage and loyalty of the New Brunswick

Regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

and Loyalist settlers. Its International Tartan Index number is 1880.

Newfoundland and Labrador

The official tartan of

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

was designed in 1955 by Samuel B. Wilansky, a local store owner on Water Street in St. John's. It was registered in the Court of the Lord Lyon in 1973. The white, gold, and yellow come from the province's official anthem, "

Ode to Newfoundland Ode to Newfoundland is the official provincial anthem of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Originally composed by Governor Sir Cavendish Boyle in 1902 as a four-verse poem titled ''Newfoundland''; it was sung by Frances Daisy Foster at the Cas ...

":Lewis 2004: 290 When sun rays crown thy pine clad hills And summer spreads her hand When silvern voices tune thy rills We love thee, smiling land ... When spreads thy cloak of shimmering white At winter's stern command Thro' shortened day, and starlit night We love thee, frozen land. The green represents the

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

forests, the white represents snow, the brown represents the Iron Isle, also known as Bell Island, and the red represents the

Royal Standard In heraldry and vexillology, a heraldic flag is a flag containing coats of arms, heraldic badges, or other devices used for personal identification. Heraldic flags include banners, standards, pennons and their variants, gonfalons, guidons, and ...

. Its International Tartan Index number is 1543.

Labrador

The region of Labrador also has its own design of tartan and it was created by Michael S. Martin. The tartan of Labrador, which can be related to Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal, was sent to the Scottish Register of Tartans, which assigned reference number 10004 to the tartan.

Northwest Territories

The idea of an official tartan for Northwest Territories was proposed by Janet Anderson-Thomson after she attended an

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

ball in 1966 and noticed that the

piper Piper may refer to: People * Piper (given name) * Piper (surname) Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics * Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe * Piper (Mutate), in the Marvel Universe Television * Piper Chapman, lea ...

was, as she later described it, "terribly drab". She and her husband John, a

land surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is c ...

, both discussed the idea with Stuart Hodgson, then

Commissioner of Northwest Territories The commissioner of the Northwest Territories (french: Commissaire des Territoires du Nord-Ouest) is the Government of Canada's representative in the Northwest Territories. Similar in certain functions to a lieutenant governor, the commissioner sw ...

, who supported it. The design was then created by Hugh MacPherson (Scotland) Limited of Edinburgh, a tartan designer and manufacturer, with Anderson-Thomson's colour suggestions: green for the forests, white for the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceans. It spans an area of approximately and is known as the coldest of all the oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, a ...

, blue for the

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arc ...

, gold for the territories' mineral wealth, red-orange for autumn foliage, and a thin black line to represent the

tree line The tree line is the edge of the habitat at which trees are capable of growing. It is found at high elevations and high latitudes. Beyond the tree line, trees cannot tolerate the environmental conditions (usually cold temperatures, extreme snow ...

. The tartan was registered at the Court of the Lord Lyon in 1972, and officially adopted by the Territorial Council in January 1973. Its International Tartan Index number is 662.

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia's tartan was designed by Bessie Murray, the President of the Halifax Weavers'

Guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

, with the help of Isobel MacAulay, Canada's expert on Clan Systems, tartans and traditional Scottish wear. Isobel was owner of Bond Textiles in Yarmouth, The Tartan House in Halifax, the Gaelic College Craft Centre in St.Anne's, Cape Breton, and was once the president of the Women's Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Bessie had originally displayed the tartan on the

kilt A kilt ( gd, fèileadh ; Irish: ''féileadh'') is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish ...

of a shepherd in a panel at a breeders' convention in

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

in 1953, but the design was so admired that it was afterwards used as the province's tartan.Lewis 2004: 291 Isobel registered the new regional tartan at the Court of the Lord Lyon in 1956, making it the first provincial tartan in Canada, and officially adopted by the province in the Nova Scotia Tartan Act of 1963. Blue are used for the

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

; white, for the

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

rocks and surf; gold, for the Royal Charter; and red for the

lion rampant The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Chr ...

on the provincial flag. Its International Tartan Index number is 1713.

Cape Breton Island

The tartan of Cape Breton Island, an island on the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast of Nova Scotia, was designed in 1957 by Elizabeth Grant. Its colour scheme was derived from a 1907 poem by Lillian Crewe Walsh:

Black for the wealth of our coal mines Grey for our Cape Breton Steel Green for our lofty mountains, our valleys and our fields'' Gold for the golden sunsets shining bright on the lakes of Bras d'Or To show us God's hand has lingered'' To Bless Cape Breton's shore.

Its International Tartan Index number is 1883.

Nunavut Territory

The Nunavut's tartan design looks to ''Qaujimajatuqangit'' (Inuit traditional knowledge) in the selection of an eight-colour palate, with white being used for four of the eight colours; dark blue, light purple, yellow and black are the remaining dye lots. The colours were chosen to represent the following: Dark Blue - the deep, icy, blue waters, which were and still are vital to the people, and the richness of the blue depicts the richness of the culture. Darker tartans are recognised as being hunting tartans, and with hunting being a large part of the Inuit Culture, this is also reflected by the dark blue. White - the use of this colour four times represents the great impact that ice and snow has upon the lifestyle in the north, while depicting the purity of the new Territory. Yellow - represents the return of the sun to the north every year, the warmth of its people and the bright future ahead. Light purple - Represents the Territorial Flower, the Saxifrage. Black - the vast mineral resources found within the tundra. Its International Tartan Index number is 7705.

Ontario

Ontario's official tartan was designed in 1965 by Rotex Ltd, but not officially adopted by the province until 2000, when

MPP MPP or M.P.P. may refer to: * Marginal physical product * Master of Public Policy, an academic degree * Member of Provincial Parliament (Ontario), Canada * Member of Provincial Parliament (Western Cape), South Africa * ''Merriweather Post Pavilio ...

for Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound Bill Murdoch introduced the Tartan Act, which received

on June 23, 2000. The three shades of green represent Ontario's forests and fields; the red, its

natives Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

; the blue, its waters; and the white, the

sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

. Its International Tartan Index number is 6627.

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

was selected through a contest across the province, and adopted on June 16, 1960. The red-brown represents the famous

red soil Red soil is a type of soil that typically develops in warm, temperate, and humid climates and comprise approximately 13% of Earth's soils. It contains thin organic and organic-mineral layers of highly leached soil resting on a red layer of alluv ...

, the green is for the grass and trees, the white is for the surf, and the yellow is for the sun. Its International Tartan Index number is 918.

Quebec

Quebec is the only province whose tartan has not been officially adopted. Known as the ''Plaid of Quebec'' (french: Plaid du Québec), it was designed in 1965 by Rotex Ltd, which also designed the tartan of Ontario in the same year. Its colours are derived from the province's

, with blue from the upper division, green for the three maple leaves, red from the centre division, gold for the crown and lion passant, and white for the scroll containing the province's motto, ''

Je me souviens () is the official motto of Quebec, and translated literally into English means: "I remember." The exact meaning of this short sentence is subject to several interpretations, though all relate to the history of the Quebec people. The motto can ...

'' ( en, "I remember"). Its International Tartan Index number is 1949.

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan's tartan was created in 1961 by Mrs. Frank Bastedo, wife of

Frank Lindsay Bastedo Frank Lindsay Bastedo (September 10, 1886 – February 15, 1973), was a Canadian lawyer who served as the 11th Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan. He is notable for being one of the few (and the last) Canadian vice-regal representatives to refu ...

, former

Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan The lieutenant governor of Saskatchewan () is the viceregal representative in Saskatchewan of the , who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared equally with the ten other jurisdictions of Canada, as well as the other Commonw ...

.Lewis 2004: 296 The predominantly yellow palette is meant to represent Saskatchewan's identity as the "

breadbasket The breadbasket of a country or of a region is an area which, because of the richness of the soil and/or advantageous climate, produces large quantities of wheat or other grain. Rice bowl is a similar term used to refer to Southeast Asia; and C ...

" of Canada, with gold for

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and yellow for

rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

and sunflower. The other colours are green for

s, red for the prairie lily, white for

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

, brown for summerfallow, and black for

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

. Its International Tartan Index number is 1817.

Yukon

The official tartan of

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

was designed by Janet Couture of Faro in 1965. Its unique colour palette represents various aspects of Yukon's culture: yellow for the Klondike Gold Rush and

midnight sun The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, ...

, purple for its mountains, white for snow, blue for water, and green for forests. It was first proposed as the territorial tartan in 1967, during the

Canadian Centennial The Canadian Centennial was a yearlong celebration held in 1967 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. Celebrations in Canada occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1, 1967. Commemorative coins ...

, but was not officially adopted until 1984, when the Yukon Tartan Act was passed by the

Yukon Legislative Assembly The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only territorial legislature which is organiz ...

. Its International Tartan Index number is 2129.

References

Bibliography

External links

Description of official tartans
at

Canadian Heritage The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage (french: Patrimoine canadien), is the Ministry (government department), department of the Cabinet of Canada, Government of Canada that has roles and responsibilities related to init ...

. {{Canada topics, state=expanded Tartans of Canada, Regional Canada, Regional tartans of

Maple leaf tartan

Provincial and territorial tartans

Alberta

British Columbia

Manitoba

New Brunswick

Newfoundland and Labrador

Labrador

Northwest Territories

Nova Scotia

Cape Breton Island

Nunavut Territory

Ontario

Prince Edward Island

Quebec

Saskatchewan

Yukon

See also

References

Bibliography

External links