Removal of Historic Symbols in Passport Represents a ‘Sliding Scale’ in Canada, Says Tory MP

The new Canadian passport is unveiled at an event at the Ottawa International Airport in Ottawa on May 10, 2023. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick

The Liberal government’s decision to remove depictions of Canadian historic sites and events in favour of more generic national images in the newly designed passport represents a “sliding, eroding scale” in the country and an indifferent attitude toward preserving Canadian heritage, says Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri.

“Who thought it would be fitting or a good idea to replace historical images like Vimy Ridge with a squirrel and nuts?” she said during an interview with The Epoch Times on May 10, adding that the redesigned passport “sends a pretty significant message of what the [government’s] priorities are.”

“Symbols represent a lot and it feels definitely like they’re trying to erase Canadian history,” she added.

Ferreri, who represents the federal riding of Peterborough-Kawartha and is her party’s shadow minister for social development, was referring to cabinet’s unveiling of the newly designed Canadian passports on May 10.

“It’s a sliding, eroding scale of all the issues and it all comes from a lack of leadership,” she said.

The passport redesign process had been in the works for about 10 years and the new passports include a number of practical improvements intended to enhance their security and make it more difficult for fraudsters to counterfeit them.

However, critics were quick to point out that the pages inside the newly designed passports do not depict certain historical events and sites as the old designs did.

The new passports contain generic images of Canadian nature scenes and animals—such as squirrels, polar bears, and birds—in place of previous images commemorating historic events such as the World War I Battle of Vimy Ridge and Terry Fox’s 1980 cross-country marathon, as well as recognizable sites like the Canadian Parliament buildings and the Château Frontenac in Quebec City.

The new passports also contain images with some indigenous symbolism, as the previous passport design did.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser and Social Development Minister Karina Gould, who unveiled the passports during a May 10 press conference, said the images were changed as a routine measure to help prevent counterfeiting.

Debate

Fraser also said the new designs were made after consulting with “a number of different government departments and stakeholders,” while Gould defended the new images as still being “fairly traditional.”

“If you look at polar bears and people jumping into a lake and birds in the winter, I think it really captures the spirit of who we are as Canadians,” she told reporters in Ottawa.

Hours after the unveiling, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the new designs during question period in the House of Commons and said the government’s decision to remove the image of the Vimy Ridge Memorial from the passports was “insulting” to veterans.

His sentiment was echoed on the same day by the Royal Canadian Legion, which called Ottawa’s removal of the image “a poor decision” that “disappointed” the legion.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded to Poilievre during question period by saying that Canadians are still “able to be proud of their country and its history.”

The unveiling of the new passport design comes less than a week after the federal government revealed its new Canadian Royal Crown emblem, which is meant to replace the St. Edward’s Crown emblem depicted on a number of federal badges and in the Canada Coat of Arms.

The new crown emblem replaces all religious symbols on the previous one with artistic renditions of maple leaves and a snowflake.

The Privy Council Office (PCO) told The Epoch Times in an email on May 11 that the new crown is “a unique emblem that incorporates elements to represent all Canadians.”

The PCO added that “updates to other symbols, such as the [Coat of] arms of Canada, to reflect the adoption of the Canadian Crown will be made over time.”

Noé Chartier and Matthew Horwood contributed to this report.