- The Governor General of Canada
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Roger Ouellette
Moncton, New Brunswick
Grant of Arms
July 15, 2010
Vol. V, p. 533
Click on each image to enlarge. The blazon and symbolism for each element will accompany the enlarged image.
Blazon
Arms
Per bend sinister grady Or and Azure semé of grains of buckwheat Or, in dexter chief an escallop Azure;
Crest
Issuant from a circlet of purple violets and fiddleheads proper, a porcupine couchant Sable;
Motto
QUI S’Y FROTTE S’Y PIQUE;
Symbolism
Arms
The division of the shield alludes to a staircase and, by extension, to the parish of Saint-Jacques-du-Hautpas (in English, “St. James of the High Steps”) in the neighbourhood of the Jardins du Luxembourg in Paris, from where the family’s original Canadian ancestor, René Ouellet (Hoélet), came. The shell, an attribute of St. James, also refers to this church. The buckwheat grains refer to Mr. Ouellette’s birthplace, the Madawaska region in the north of New Brunswick, where buckwheat is cultivated on a large scale.
Crest
The porcupine is a symbol of Madawaska, as the Malecite word Medaweskak means “land of the porcupines”. It thus recalls that Béloni Ouellette, Mr. Ouellette’s ancestor, left the county of Kamouraska in Quebec to come to Madawaska when he married in 1873. The purple violet is the floral emblem of New Brunswick. The fiddlehead is the only plant native to Canada that has attained commercial success as a vegetable. In North America, the major part of the harvest is made in New Brunswick, where they have been consumed for centuries.
Motto
Meaning “Whoever touches it is pierced by it”, the motto alludes to the symbolism of the crest.
Background
Canada Gazette Information
The announcement of the Letters Patent was made on March 26, 2011, in Volume 145, page 1075 of the Canada Gazette.
Artist Information
Creator(s)
Original concept of Robert Pichette, Dauphin Herald Extraordinary, assisted by the heralds of the Canadian Heraldic Authority.
Painter
D. Robert Tunstall
Calligrapher
Shirley Mangione
Recipient Information
Individual