Coat of arms of the Canary Islands

Escudo de Canarias.

The Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands has had an official coat of arms since 1982 thanks to organic law 10/1982 of August 10 on the "Autonomous Statute of the Canary Islands".

Description

In the sixth article of said statute it provides:

"The Canary Islands have their own coat of arms, whose description is as follows: in a field of blue it has seven well-ordered silver islands, two, two, two and one, the latter pointed. As a stamp a royal gold crown, surmounted by a silver ribbon with the motto "Ocean" in sable and as supports two cannons in their color ".

According to the BOC, the blue of the shield is Pantone 3005 (RGB 7.104.169), the brown of the dogs Pantone 722 (RGB 216.143.31), the gold of the crown Pantone 7406 (RGB 255.204.0), the Corona Red Pantone 485 (RGB 254.0.12) and Silver Ribbon Pantone 7544 (RGB 145.143.144).

Controversy over dogs

In recent times, a controversy has arisen around the representation of the can (perro de presa canario) on the shield. This fact has partly motivated the Government of the Canary Islands to have suppressed the two dogs in official forms and public buildings, although they have been maintained in the Shield of the Canary Islands.

It is popularly attributed that the name of the Canary archipelago is derived from the Canarian presa dog, although according to a law of the Government of the Canary Islands in force since 1991, the can dog is the natural symbol of Gran Canaria together with the cardón. For this reason, among the detractors of the current shield, it is argued that they only represent the island of Gran Canaria and not the entire archipelago.

There has also been a motion to remove the collar from both animals, as it is argued (especially from pro-independence circles) that it alludes to the idea that the collars have a meaning of "submission".