The Beaver
After the early Europeans explorers had realized that Canada
was not the spice-rich Orient, the main mercantile attraction
was the beaver population numbering in the millions. In the
late 1600s and early 1700s, the fashion of the day demanded
fur hats, which needed beaver pelts. As these hats became
more popular, the demand for the pelts grew.
King Henry IV of France saw the fur trade
as an opportunity to acquire much-needed revenue and to establish
a North American empire. Both English and French fur traders
were soon selling beaver pelts in Europe at 20 times their
original purchase price.
The trade of beaver pelts proved so lucrative
that the Hudson's Bay Company honoured the buck-toothed little
animal by putting it on the shield of its coat of arms in
1678. Sir William Alexander, who was granted title to Nova
Scotia in 1621, had been the first to include the beaver in
a coat of arms.
The Hudson's Bay Company shield consists
of four beavers separated by a red St. George's Cross and
reflects the importance of this industrious rodent to the
company. A coin was created to equal the value of one beaver
pelt.
Also, in 1678 Louis de Buade de Frontenac,
then Governor of New France, suggested the beaver as a suitable
emblem for the colony, and proposed it be included in the
armorial bearings of Quebec City. In 1690, in commemoration
of France's successful defence of Quebec, the "Kebeca
Liberata Medal" was struck. A seated woman, representing
France, with a beaver at her feet, representing Canada, appeared
on the back.
The beaver was included in the armorial bearings
of the City of Montréal when it was incorporated as
a city in 1833. Sir Sandford Fleming assured the beaver a
position as a national symbol when he featured it on the first
Canadian postage stamp - the "Three Penny Beaver"
of 1851.
The beaver also appeared with the maple leaf
on the masthead of Le Canadien, a newspaper published in Lower
Canada.
For a time, it was one of the emblems of
the Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste. It is still
found on the crest of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company.
Despite all this recognition, the beaver
was close to extinction by the mid-19th century. There were
an estimated six million beavers in Canada before the start
of the fur trade. During its peak, 100,000 pelts were being
shipped to Europe each year; the Canadian beaver was in danger
of being wiped out. Luckily, about that time, Europeans took
a liking to silk hats and the demand for beaver pelts all
but disappeared.
The beaver attained official status as an
emblem of Canada when an "act to provide for the recognition
of the beaver (castor canadensis) as a symbol of the sovereignty
of Canada" received royal assent on March 24, 1975.
Today, thanks to conservation and silk hats,
the beaver - the largest rodent in Canada - is alive and well
all over the country.
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