O-4424

•

baton (Speaker's)

•

Speaker's baton of office

Speaker's Baton

The Honourable John Allen Fraser, 32nd Speaker of the House of Commons, had this ceremonial baton created in 1992 to mark the 125th anniversary of Confederation. The baton’s maple-wood shaft is coloured a shade of green historically associated with Canada’s Lower House. Its top end is decorated with a silver lion. The lion, symbolizing Parliament, rests one paw protectively on a coronet decorated with maples leaves and 12 small rubies, the gems representing the provinces and territories at the time. At the bottom, a silver cap bears the Latin inscription pro regina et patria (For Queen and Country). The baton was designed by Robert Watt, then Chief Herald of Canada, and manufactured by silversmith Ernest Roth in St. Jacobs, Ontario. It has been displayed in the Speaker’s Office since its creation.

Robert Douglas Watt

Robert Watt was born in Picton, Ontario, in 1945. He studied at Carleton University in Ottawa and worked as an archivist and museum curator before serving as the first Chief Herald of Canada. In 1988, Queen Elizabeth II delegated her prerogative of granting armorial bearings to then Governor General Jeanne Sauvé, making Canada the first Commonwealth country outside the United Kingdom to have its own heraldic authority. Within the Office of the Governor General, the Chief Herald is responsible for the creation of coats-of-arms, flags and badges for Canadian citizens, corporate entities, and units of the Canadian Armed Forces. It is also the Chief Herald’s role to read the royal proclamation when a new monarch of Canada accedes to the throne.