What symbols are included in Canada's coat of arms?

Discover Canada records this in one direct sentence. The guide writes: As an expression of national pride after the First World War, Canada adopted an official coat of arms and a national motto, A mari usque ad mare, which in Latin means "from sea to sea." The arms contain symbols of England, France, Scotland and Ireland as well as red maple leaves. The combination the test wants is therefore symbols of England, France, Scotland, and Ireland, along with red maple leaves.

Four founding peoples plus a Canadian icon. Discover Canada's list — England, France, Scotland, Ireland, and red maple leaves — captures the British and French heritage of the founding peoples, plus Canada's own best-known symbol. So the arms unite four European symbolic traditions with Canadian identity in a single emblem.

The coat of arms was adopted after the First World War. Discover Canada writes that it was "an expression of national pride after the First World War." The same post-war wave of identity-formalisation also produced the national motto "A mari usque ad mare" ("from sea to sea") — the two together became official Canadian emblems in the early 1920s.

The arms appear on official Canadian items. Discover Canada writes that "today the arms can be seen on dollar bills, government documents and public buildings." So the four-founding-peoples-plus-maple-leaves combination is one of the most widely visible Canadian state symbols in daily life — every government document, every dollar bill, every federal building carries some version of the coat of arms with these elements built in.

The question is testing whether new citizens know what symbols are part of the coat of arms. Discover Canada commits to a five-element list: England, France, Scotland, Ireland, and red maple leaves. The right test answer matches that.

The wrong answer choices each restrict or replace the list. "Only maple leaves" drops the four founding peoples. "Only a beaver and maple leaf" drops the founding peoples and adds the beaver — which is a Canadian symbol but not part of the coat of arms in Discover Canada's description. The U.S.-and-Canada combination has no role in the coat of arms — Canada's arms are tied to its British and French heritage, not its U.S. neighbour.