Université de Montréal

The yellow logo on dark blue was used in the 1980s. The logo, adopted in 1984, represents the central university tower and the letters UM. In 1994, the university adopts a new flag: the coat of arms on a Canadian pale with the arms' colors. It seems that at first "the arms' colors" was interpreted as a blue-white-blue Canadian pale. Indeed, the blue and white Canadian pale flew in the 1990s on the hospitals affiliated with the university (in those years the university itself only flew the Quebec fleur-de-lis). I purchased the blue-white-gold Canadian pale version in 2001 and saw it flying for the first time in 2003 on the university's campus.

The arms on it were adopted in 1920, created by vice-president Mgr Émile Chartier and finalized by Victor Morin president of the Collège héraldique de la Société historique de Montréal. The two towers remind us of the teachings of the Sulpicians and the nuns of the Notre-Dame congregation to the Natives in Montréal. The golden star represents faith and the silver, science. They make reference to the motto Fide splendet et scientia (She shines by faith and science). Though a lay university, the religious references take us back to the Jesuit origins of the university that started out as a branch of Québec city's Université Laval.

Luc Baronian, 9 May 2005