The Cambrian College Coat of Arms is the official and registered heraldic insignia. Its use is limited and restricted to formal College communications such as College diplomas, certificates, invitations, seals and other ceremonial items.
The Coat of Arms is approved for the aforementioned uses; however, the College Logo can be substituted providing its application is within official corporate identity guidelines.
The Coat of Arms can only be used with the appropriate College approval.
Description
The name “Cambrian” was adopted to recognize the Precambrian Shield, the geological formation extending across Northern Ontario where the College is located.
The word “Cambrian” is also used to denote a Welshman, and the Paleozoic rocks lying below the Silurian in Wales and Cumberland. The Badge of Wales, or Cambrian, is a red dragon. In order to identify it with Ontario, the dragon is shown holding aloft in its right forepaw the floral emblem of the Province, a white trillium.
The Crest, rising from the top of the helmet, depicts three interlaced rings or annulets in black, blue, and grey, symbolic of the three campuses that once comprised the College. The flaming torch issuing from the three annulets is a symbol of the enlightenment that comes with education and study. The sprays of three gold maple leaves that surround the annulets and the torch are derived from the Arms of Ontario and are a further indication of the location of the College. The mantling, in the colours of the College, has a number of trilobites depicted on it. The trilobite is one of the first invertebrates which flourished in the Cambrian period 550 million years ago.
The colours of the College are maroon and gold. Three additional colours represent the original College campuses: grey for North Bay, black for Sudbury, and blue for Sault Ste. Marie. (As of 1972, the Sault Ste. Marie campus became Sault College while the North Bay campus became Canadore College. Both are now fully autonomous colleges.) Since maroon is not a heraldic colour, it is described in the blazon as “murrey,” and gold is described as “or.” The design was created by Alan B. Beddoe, O.B.E., a consultant in heraldry.
Arms:
Or, a Dragon rampant Murrey, holding in the dexter forepaw, a bloom of White Trillium slipped, seeded and barbed proper.
Crest:
On a wreath of the colours Or and Murrey, three Annulets interlaced, two in base the other in chief, the one in dexter base Azure, that in sinister base Grey, and the one in chief, Sable, the last enfiling a Torch erect Or, enflamed proper, all within two sprays of Maple, each of the three leaves, Or.
Motto:
“Responsibility With Excellence.”
