Over the years, we have spent many hours idly sitting in court in Hay River.
Court can be intense and dramatic, but it can also be somewhat boring because of many breaks when nothing is happening.
That has given us the unique opportunity to study the large coat of arms on the wall behind the judge's bench. You can't really miss it.
More than the flags of Canada and the NWT, the coat of arms – officially called the Arms of Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Canada – is the symbol of the court's legal power to pass judgment on people. It is the most important symbol of power in Canada.
In fact, it is that coat of arms – not the maple leaf – that is on the front cover of every passport issued by Canada.
Curiously, though, there is very little on the coat of arms to identify it as uniquely Canadian, aside from some maple leafs.
There are, of course, many symbols of the European nations that colonized Canada – an English lion, a Scottish unicorn (yes, unicorn), French fleur-de-lis and an Irish harp.
And there is, of course, the Crown above everything else.
Aside from the maple leaf imagery, including a maple leaf being held in the paw of a golden lion, the only other thing that may provide a clue that it is the coat of arms of Canada is the Latin motto “a mari usque ad mare” – meaning “from sea to sea.”
There are also the Latin words “desiderantes meliorem patriam,” which means 'desiring a better country'.
Now, it goes without saying that we are not experts on royal coats of arms. There may be ancient reasons to explain the coat of arms' imagery. It is, after all, a symbol of power and in today's Canada the symbolic, if not practical, power rests with the monarch. In court, the charges are brought by the Crown.
Still, the imagery – aside from the maple leaf – is non-Canadian and completely colonial. It obviously represents the several European nations to which the majority of Canadians can trace their ancestral roots.
It is completely devoid of any recognition – at least none that we can see – of the Indigenous people of Canada.
In this time when many people are talking about colonialism, it is actually perfectly symbolized on the country's coat of arms.
It's really hard to see the omission of Indigenous symbols as anything but an insult to the original inhabitants of this land.
Imagine an Indigenous person awaiting judgment in court in Hay River. All that person has to do is look above the judge to see an illustration of legal power in Canada. It is obviously European power transferred to Canada.
Is that how Canadians want their country to be symbolized?
There are many Canadian images, particularly Indigenous symbols, that can be incorporated into the country's coat of arms – the drum, the inukshuk, the feather.
No offence to Scotland, but any of those images would make a lot more sense than a Scottish unicorn.
What is a Scottish unicorn, anyway?