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The beaver is thirty-six years into its tenure as Canada’s national emblem, and last week it faced its biggest challenge yet. As Senator Nicole Eaton said in a statement to the Canadian Senate, the beaver is both an outdated symbol and a destructive rodent. She believes we must choose a better symbol and suggests the polar bear. As Eaton stated, the polar bear represents “strength, courage, resourcefulness, and dignity.” According to a statement made to the Globe and Mail, Eaton is such a fan of the polar bear that she has posters of the animal plastered all over her office walls.

Let’s take a closer look at these two noble beasts, and the roles they play within Canada.

Beaver pelt was a highly valuable resource to the European explorers in the 17th and 18th centuries—so essential that the Hudson’s Bay Company incorporated it in their coat of arms. The search for this pelt drove much of the exploration of Canada, and so the role of the beaver in this country’s history is deeply entrenched. The polar bear, on the other hand, is found in Canada’s Arctic region, and has played its most significant historical role in the lives of the Inuit, who hunted them for food and fur. The Inuit, naturally, were here before the Europeans were.  

The beaver is found on our nickel. The polar bear is on our toonie. But, since it’s our current national symbol, the beaver is featured in significantly more coats of arms and stamps, as well as a statue on top of the entrance to parliament. It’s hardly going to be an easy task to make new coats of arms, not to mention reworking international rhetoric.

Eaton argues that the beaver is destructive. Yes, it does gnaw into trees and construct dams, turning rivers into wetlands and then many years later into dry forests. But don’t humans construct dams and change ecosystems in even more damaging ways than the beaver? If the beaver is too destructive a creature, should it really be replaced with one that, due to changes in the Canadian environment, is increasingly dangerous to human populations? In Churchill, Manitoba, there is a regular polar bear patrol to protect the community. Where is the beaver patrol?

What’s more, if we do indeed change our national symbol to the polar bear, it should be assumed that this would mean an increased effort on the part of our government to preserve this creature. As global warming becomes more and more harmful, polar bears’ lives are greatly jeopardized. Certainly the Canadian government would undoubtedly make ending climate change its top priority—as it can safely be concluded that our national symbol is of utmost importance to current politics. Perhaps then, given the state of our climate, this would be a very proactive decision to make.

But, as Carelton professor Michael Runtz told the BBC, the beaver is much more representative of the Canadian temperament: “They are like Canadians. Their demeanour is very pleasant.” The majestic beaver is known throughout the world as a symbol of Canada, along with the maple leaf. Out of all the changes that should be made to the international image of Canada, one would hope that peace building and championing of the environment would outrank the beaver vs. polar bear debate.