On November 13, 1637, "all that whole Continent Island or Region commonly called NEWFOUNDLAND" was granted to David Kirke, Governor of Newfoundland from 1638 to 1651, James Marquess Hamilton, Phillip Earle of Pembroke & Montgomery and Henry Earle of Holland. On January 1, 1638 it was deemed that a coat of arms was necessary "for the greater honor and splendor of that Countrey and the people therein inhabiting." The original grant describes the arms as follows:
I have accordingly for the purpose before recited devised sett forth and contrived the Armes & Ensignes hereafter described. That is to say Gules a Grosse Argent In the first Quarter of the Escocheon a Lyon Passant gardant Crowned Or In the second an Unicorne passant of the second armed maned and unguled of the third gorged with a Crowne whereunto is affixed a chaine passing between his fore leggs and reflexed over his back of the last. In the third as in the second. In the fourth as in the first And for the Creast Upon an Healme Mantled Gules doobled Argent and a Wreath Or & Gules an Elke passant pper The Escocheon supported by two Savages of the Clyme pper armed and apparaled according to their Guise when they goe to Warre And Under all in an Escroll this Motto Quaerite prime Regnum Dei as in the Margent more plainly is depicted.
Not long after receiving this grant, a civil war broke out in England. Kirke was a Royalist and on the losing side of the war. Kirke was arrested and died in The Clink in Southwark around the end of January 1654 and the coat of arms granted him was forgotten. It was not used for over 200 years and it appears its existence was unknown to both the Newfoundland and United Kingdom authorities. Instead, the colony used as its Great Seal both the Royal coat of arms and a design which was approved in 1820 and which incorporated a badge depicting the figure of Mercury, the classical god of commerce, presenting to Britannia a fisherman who, kneeling attitude, is offering the harvest of the sea. Below this, the Latin words "Haec Tibi Dona Fero" meaning "These gifts I bring thee" appear, and written around the circumference of the seal is "Sigillum Terrae Novae Insulae" meaning "Seal of the Island of Terra Nova". In 1893, D.W. Prowse published A History of Newfoundland, in which he printed a copy of the Newfoundland arms. Prowse erroneously attributed the armorial bearings to John Guy, and described the image as the arms of the "London and Bristol Company for Colonising Newfoundland". The Newfoundland Post Office perpetuated his error by issuing a 1910 two-cent stamp depicting the arms and included attribution to the London and Bristol Company, which financed Guy's colonization attempt. Following the First World War, the Imperial War Graves Commission requested to know which arms should be used on memorials in French cathedrals commemorating Newfoundland and Labrador's involvement. Newfoundland's High Commissioner in England, Sir Edgar Bowring began the search, but it was successor Captain Victor Gordon received confirmation from the College of Arms in London that the Kirke coat of arms belonged to Newfoundland. In 1928 the government of the Dominion of Newfoundland officially adopted this coat of arms. It has been in use ever since, despite the changes in Newfoundland and Labrador's status from Dominion to a colony run by the Commission of Government in 1934, and subsequently to a province of Canada in 1949. The Coat of Arms Act provides the current legal authority for the use of the arms.
Symbolism
Crest Escutcheon Compartment Supporters Motto
Redesign
Starting in the 2010s, the coat of arms has been criticized for its portrayal of indigenous peoples. In 2016, Indigenous artist Jordan Bennett produced a newly commissioned artwork "tamiow tle’owin" for the "With Secrecy and Despatch" exhibition at the Campbelltown Art Centre, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia. The piece focuses on the Newfoundland and Labrador coat of arms and is, according to the artist's statement, "a commentary on the exotification, exploitation, and commodification of Indigenous cultures." In 2018, the Newfoundland and Labrador government confirmed its plan to redesign the province's coat of arms, in response to the province's Indigenous Peoples Commission's call for changes in the name of reconciliation. Randy Edmunds, MHA for Labrador's Torngat Mountains and parliamentary secretary for Indigenous Affairs, noted at the same time that elk are not native to Newfoundland and Labrador, and suggested it be replaced with a caribou. News of a potential redesign spawned media polls and tongue-in-cheek suggestions. It also spurred a satirical response from Indigenous newspaper columnist and Qalipu First Nation Councilor Andy Barker:
