Coat of arms of Newfoundland and Labrador

The coat of arms of Newfoundland and Labrador was awarded on January 1, 1637 by King Charles I to David Kirke, the then Governor of the British colony of Newfoundland. The coat of arms was rediscovered in 1928 and officially launched by the then independent Dominion Newfoundland. It was maintained as Newfoundland in 1949 to the Canadian province was.

The coat of arms is quartered by a white cross on a red background, so the reverse cross of St. George. In heraldic upper right and lower left quadrants are each a crowned golden lion, chained in the other two quadrants each a white unicorn. The animals represent the plate holder of the British royal coat of arms. The lion stands for England, the unicorn for Scotland.

The plate holder are two Indians from the tribe of the Beothuk ( extinct since the 19th century ), armed with bow and arrow.

About the shield there is a red and gold Helmwulst and a European elk. The elk was probably chosen because in the 17th century still knew no European coat of arms draftsman, as a native caribou looks.

On the pedestal a scroll is designed with the motto: Primum Regnum Dei Quaerite ("seek first the kingdom of God") is a quotation from Psalm 6:33 the Gospel of Matthew.