Q: I understand you are working on a new motto for Canada?
A: Indeed, I am. Some people in high places think the current motto on our coat of arms is not specific enough.
Q: Forgive me for this, but what is the motto now?
A: From sea to sea or, to draw on my schoolboy Latin: A mari usque ad mare.
Q: What’s wrong with that?
A: Well, the thinking is that it only means the Atlantic and the Pacific and there’s no mention of the Arctic. And if we got the Arctic into the motto, it would lay strength to our claims in the North. Whatever they may be.
Q: So, could the motto then say, “From sea to sea to sea”?
A: That would be a start.
Q: Only a start?
A: Most assuredly. If you look at the motto as defining our country, then “sea to sea to sea” is stupid — even dangerous.
Q: How so?
A: Think about it. You come to the west side of Vancouver and there’s the sea. But we don’t stop there. What about Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlottes? On the other side, you’ll find Newfoundland sitting out in that sea. So, the motto should cover all those islands.
Q: So it could be “From sea to sea to sea, including islands”?
A: But the motto can’t stop there. We have the north, east and west covered, but what about the south? Tell me that.
Q: That’s the United States — you should know that.
A: I do. But if they think there’s a flaw in the motto, they might just start pushing north. So, the motto has to make a statement covering off the southern boundary of Canada,
Q: So, now we have “From sea to sea to sea, including islands and…” What?
A: It’s a toughie. We could put in the 49th parallel — or, as we say in Latin, “parallelum XLIXum.”
Q: You sure you passed Latin in high school?
A: I never said I passed it; I just said I took it.
Q: But we need more than the 49th, don’t we?
A: Surely. We have to get in the Great Lakes —
Aqua Major, in Latin — and the St. Lawrence —
Sancta Lawrencium — and the Eastern Townships and New Brunswick.
Q: So, we get all that in, nicely phrased by genuine Latin scholars, and we are home free — homum libra, as we say in Latin.
A: No way. Or cave canem, as we say in Latin. What about up?
Q: Up?
A: Air space. The government that came up with the old motto wasn’t thinking more than a few feet above the ground. But in today’s world, we want to cover off airspace so we have to get maybe five or 10 miles straight up into the motto as well.
Q: And how do we do that?
A: I think we might just add “terrum angelorum” — which surely speaks for itself,
Q: Then we are done?
A: You might say that, but you would be wrong. We have to go down as well. If our motto is a way of ensuring our dominion over the land, then we can leave no loopholes. What if somebody from North Dakota starts drilling a tunnel aslant deep beneath Manitoba? We want to cut them off before they hit Neepawa with a clear document that shows who owns what.
Q: And now are we done?
A: We’re looking good. We have three seas, islands, land, lakes, sky and dirt. Now, all we need are some Latinists with a pithy turn of phrase.
Q: Would that be “pithum verbum” in Latin?
A: Darn right. IE