A small percentage of people like to remind the Province of Canada team that, ‘Canada isn’t a province’. They’ve inspired me to tell the story of how we decided on the name, Province of Canada.
Not all brand name brainstorming sessions start in grocery stores. It was a fall day, back in 2013, I was in the produce section looking for McIntosh apples when I saw the three words that inspired our name.
My partner, Julie and I had been throwing around names for our yet to be launched brand for months. After countless, scratched out ideas, the only thing we knew for sure was that the name itself should include Canada. The goal of the brand was (and still is) to make all of our products in Canada while redefining what a Canadian lifestyle brand’s aesthetic could be. The thinking was, if we didn’t intend to lean on the typical Canadian stereotypes of lumberjack plaid and maple syrup, than Canada needs to be part of the name.
So there I was, standing amongst fruits and vegetables, starring at the McIntosh apple sign; McIntosh Apples, Product of Canada. ‘Product of Canada’. If it wasn’t so literal, it would be perfect. That ‘of Canada’, captured the feeling we were going for. I grab the apples, went home and took to Google.
I pulled up the Wikipedia page for Canada and started reading with the phrase, ‘Product of Canada’ top of mind. 6 paragraphs in, our brand name surfaced:
From the 16th to the early 18th century “Canada” referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas; until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. — “Canada.” Wikipedia.
A soon as I read the words ‘Province of Canada’ out load, Julie (born and raised in Lower Canada) and I (born and raised in Upper Canada) knew that our laborious brand name search was over. Within minutes I was registering provinceofcanada.com.
The name was never meant to be a history or geography lesson, it was just one of those things that felt right from the beginning. To us, it spoke to our origins, it shouted out Canada and it paid homage to a time when quality came before everything else.
That’s what Province of Canada is to us. It’s not a province, it’s not a country, it’s a brand that we try everyday to make synonymous with well-made products that are designed and manufactured in Canada.
Jeremy Watt
Co-Founder
Province of Canada
