Polar Medal (Canada)
| Polar Medal | |
|---|---|
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Awarded by the monarch of Canada |
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| Type | Medal |
| Status | Currently awarded |
| Statistics | |
| Established | Governor General's Northern Medal: September 15, 2005 Polar Medal: June 23, 2015 |
| First awarded | Governor General's Northern Medal: 2005 Polar Medal: July 8, 2015 |
| Total awarded | Governor General's Northern Medal: 9 |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | European Security and Defence Policy Service Medal |
| Next (lower) | Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers |
 Ribbon of the Polar Medal |
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The Polar Medal (French: Médaille polaire) is a Canadian decoration intended to honour explorers of Canada's polar regions and defenders of the country's sovereignty in the north. The medal was initially conceived by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson as the Governor General's Northern Medal and created on September 15, 2005, to award those who serve with distinction in northern Canada. It was replaced on June 23, 2015, by the Polar Medal.
Until 1967, Canadians were eligible for the Polar Medal (until 1904 known as the British Arctic Medal), as Canada had not yet promulgated its own system of honours and employed that of the United Kingdom. On September 15, 2005, Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, created the Governor General's Northern Medal. That medal was incorporated into and replaced by the new Canadian Polar Medal On June 23, 2015, the 145th anniversary of the transfer to Canada of Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory (today the Northwest Territories). The first medals were presented at a ceremony in the Yukon Territory on July 8, 2015.
The Governor General's Northern Medal was designed by Cathy Bursey-Sabourin. It was set in a crystal base and depicted on its obverse a snowy owl (guardian spirit), the aurora borealis (scope of the North), and a Canadian arctic diamond (the North Star). On the reverse are the words Governor General’s Northern Medal/La Médaille du Gouverneur général pour la nordicité along with the recipient's name.
The Canadian Heraldic Authority designed the Polar Medal based on a concept by Major Carl Gauthier of the Directorate of Honours and Recognition section of the Department of National Defence. It is a silver, 36mm diameter, octagonal disk that bears on its obverse an effigy of Canada's monarch, Queen Elizabeth II (symbolising the sovereign as fount of honour), wearing a diadem with maple leaves and snowflakes and surrounded by the words ELIZABETH II DEI GRATIA REGINA, separated by two maple leaves from the word CANADA at the bottom. The edge of the obverse is decorated with small denticles. On the reverse is an image of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner St. Roch (which patrolled the Arctic in the early to mid-20th century) adjacent to a tall iceberg, two crew standing on the ice. (Crew members of the St.Roch received the British Polar Medal.)
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