When you touch vermilion, you get dirty with red.
The first time I climbed the steps of the massive white building at 301 Wellington Street in Ottawa was in 1977. How small I felt in this majestic building designed by Ernest Cormier, which houses the Supreme Court of Canada (and the Federal Court)!
Opened in 1941, the most striking features are the austere granite cage, typical of the classical style, the impeccably cut stone and finely wrought ironwork, and the roof, borrowed from the Château style (Federal Heritage Designations Directory). The symmetry of the lines of the palatial interior, which is just as grandiose, helps to magnify the space of this high place of justice.
In the four decades since my first visit, I have often returned to the Supreme Court building, both as a prosecutor and as a Federal Court judge. Each time, it will always be with the same love of these emblematic places. Now let’s talk about the colours and their particular symbolism.
The “Cormier emblem”, the historic badge of the Supreme Court, set in red on a white background, seems to echo the nobility of the robes worn by the judges of the highest court, while the gold and black arms of the Federal Court symbolise the gowns of the Federal Court and the former Exchequer Court, which are black with gold facing.
I don’t know if the colours mean anything to you, but if you ever pass by the Supreme Court registrar’s office, you might be so bold as to ask Maître Carbonneau why she chose to place a large canvas above the black marble hearth, where vermilion red dominates and immediately catches the eye.
Behind the canvas, painted in 2013, are two inscriptions, including this one:
“When you touch vermilion, you get dirty with red”.
©Luc Martineau,2022
