Acadia University

Per pale Azure and Argent two Nova Scotia woodsman’s axes in saltire between in chief and in base a cushion charged with a wolf’s head and in the flanks an open book all counterchanged;

Blue and white were the traditional colours of the university. The axes pay tribute to the early settlers and university founders who cleared the woodlands to build the university. They also refer to the university sports teams, the “Axemen and Axewomen.” The books identify the university as a place of intellectual discipline and work. The wolves’ heads are a pun on the location of the university in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.

A Nova Scotia woodsman’s axe hafted Gules the blade proper;

The axe repeats the symbolism of this element in the arms.