TheGreat Seal of Canada (French:Grand Sceau du Canada) is a governmentalseal used for purposes of state inCanada, being set onletters patent, proclamations[1] and commissions, both to representatives of the monarch and for the appointment ofcabinet ministers, senators, and judges.[2][3] Many other officials, such as officers in the Canadian Armed Forces, receive commissions affixed with the Privy Seal, not the great seal.[3] It is not for sealing up a document asletters close. As ade facto symbol of Canada the seal is one of the oldest and most honoured instruments of the Canadian government.[4]
The first Great Seal of Canada was carved in theUnited Kingdom and sent to Canada to replace a temporary seal which had been used sinceConfederation in 1867. On the great seal assigned to Canada in 1869, the arms of each of the original provinces—Nova Scotia,New Brunswick,Québec, andOntario—were shown separately, two on each side of the figure ofQueen Victoria seated beneath a canopy.[5]
In view of the intendedtour of Canada by George VI in 1939 as King of Canada, the federal parliament passed an act to let the Great Seal of Canada be used for functions that had previously been carried out by the king in London using theGreat Seal of the United Kingdom—such as the issuing of an instrument of ratification for an international treaty—but were to be performed by the King while in Canada. This contrasted with the 1931External Great Seal of the Irish Free State and 1934Royal Great Seal of South Africa, which also replaced the use of the UK Great Seal on diplomatic documents, but were in each case separate from the pre-existing domestic Great Seal.[6] The 1939 change was described by the tour's official historian as establishing a new official procedure "which asserted and recognized Canada's equality of political status within the British Empire."[7]
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Dies (seal-making devices) for old seals are destroyed whenever a newmonarch takes the throne. The current great seal was designed by British-born artistEric Aldwinckle and made at theRoyal Canadian Mint when QueenElizabeth II succeeded her father in 1952 and it went into use on 14 November 1955.[8] The seal die is made of specially tempered steel, weighs 3.75kilograms (8.27pounds), and is 127 millimetres (5inches) in diameter. The image depicts the Queen enthroned onthe coronation chair and robed, holding theorb andsceptre, and the 1957 version of the RoyalArms of Canada in front. Around the perimeter is inscribedREINE DU CANADA—ELIZABETH II—QUEEN OF CANADA. Previous Great Seals of Canada were inscribed in Latin. While thegovernor general is the keeper of the Great Seal, the Queen's representative places it in the protection of theRegistrar General of Canada. Each of theprovinces has its own unique great seal for similar purposes, which is used by thelieutenant governor of the province and kept by the provincial attorney general.
![The royal proclamation of the flag of Canada, bearing an impression of the great seal at lower left[9]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aProclamation_of_the_National_Flag_of_Canada_(January_1965).jpg)
Like theGreat Seal of the United Kingdom in respect of the Crown in right of that country, the Great Seal of Canada is the chief seal of the Crown of Canada, and is used to show the Canadian monarch's approval of important state documents. The sovereign acts on the advice of the government of the day.[10]
The Canadian Great Seal is used not only for administrative purposes, but also ceremonially, when it is put into the custody of a new governor general as part of the customaryswearing-in and installation procedure.[2] It is protected under theSecurity of Information Act, Section 5(2)(e) stating: "Every person who, without lawful authority or excuse, manufactures or sells, or has in his possession for sale, any die, seal or stamp referred to in subsection (1) is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 14 years or by summary conviction and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than 12 months or to a fine of not more than $2,000."[11]
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