Now Canada Has An Emblem

Posted By: Anna Dyckow , on Tuesday, 19 June 2007

By Erin Dwyer Denise Dow of Quispamsis remembers spying them first on road trips through the United States to visit her aunt and uncle. They were everywhere: over doors, on mailboxes and on garages. The eagle emblem was prominent from her view in the back of the family station wagon. "I just found it curious that Canadians didn't really have something like that. We have our flag, but we don't have an emblem per se," she said. "That left an impression on me." That was back when she was a teenager. Today, Dow is 49, a mother, an IT employee and, more recently, an entrepreneur, driven by a parent-instilled patriotism and a certain level of impatience. Last fall, concerned that Canadians still didn't have an emblem, she set out on a mission: She deisgned one, sought out a plastics manufacturer in New Brunswick, developed a prototype and successfully pitched her product "Strong & Free" to retail giants Canadian Tire and Home Hardware. "I kept waiting for it to happen and the next thing you know I'm turning 50 next year and I'm like, I've got to do this because no one else is." Dow simply picked three beautiful maple leaves from a tree in her backyard last September. Using tracing paper, she carefully outlined and developed a banner on her computer that said "Strong & Free." With a scroll saw and a hand-held rotary tool, she carved her emblem into a piece of wood and took it to Plastech, a Notre-Dame manufacturer. Just days before she was to meet with Canadian Tire in January, she recieved her first plastic prototype by courier. "I opened the box and I cried. They were just beautiful." Now Canadian Tire has them on trial in six stores across Canada and Home Hardware is about to do the same. Dow is simply waiting for the orders to come flooding in. In the meantime, she sent a box of the emblems as well as lapel pins, bumper magnets, windsheild stickers and jacket crests to the Canadian Soldiers in Afghanistan. "My dream is to see these in every neighbourhood from the east coast to the west coast," she said. "We're hoping by the 2010 Olympics, it will make it to Vancouver." For more information visit www.StrongAndFreeEmblem.com Strong & Free can be purchased at Trinity Books & Gifts 105 Prince William St. Saint John, New Brunswick Canada. Coming soon to www.loonielink.com

 

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