Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian's chain of office was found to be stolen from city hall after a break-in on Sept. 10, 2021.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kamloops RCMP
December 19, 2021 - 7:04 PM
Chains of office for mayors in the Thompson-Okanagan stems from a European tradition hundreds of years old, but the local pieces of jewelry don't date back quite as far.
The Kamloops chain of office, which has been missing since a break in at city hall earlier this year, was created in 1964.
READ MORE: Suspect arrested after break-in at Kamloops city hall
The earliest known chain of office was given as a gift by Charles V of France in 1378 to a member of the kingdom. It carried on with notable chains among British royalty, especially within the Tudor years, beginning in the 14th century.
That tradition lasted through the years as they were donned by high-ranking royal and government figures.
"There's nothing in legislation that says the mayor must have one. I don't know if all B.C. municipalities have them," Kelowna city clerk Steven Fleming said.
Commonly made of gold, the ceremonial chains have a crest in the centre, and in the case of municipal governments, they show the city's coat of arms.
Not much is known about the Kamloops chain of office, but the first known presentation of the chain was in September 1964, according to an archived article from the Kamloops Daily Sentinel.
Kamloops also has a second chain of office held at the Kamloops Museum and Archives.
According to museum and archives supervisor, Julia Cyr, it was presented to the city by B.C. municipal affairs minister of the day, D.R.J. Campbell. He presented it to the city to mark the amalgamation of North Kamloops in November 1967.
Kelowna's chain of office is older, but it was not gifted by the provincial government.
The chain of office, currently donned by the mayor ceremonially when they are voted into office, was presented to the city in 1955 to marks its fiftieth anniversary as a city, according to Fleming.
"One-hundred twenty-two local people got together and threw in some money to have a chain of office created," he said.
It is made of gold with the city's coat of arms at the centre. The citizens had it made by Birks, a Vancouver jeweler that had just created one for the Vancouver mayor.
Mayor's chains will often carry engravings of each mayor's name and the years they served.
While it's not required for all mayors in B.C. to be presented with a chain of office, the European tradition carries on in the province.
While Kamloops mayor Ken Christian is currently without his chain, a back up is waiting for him in the Kamloops Museum and Archives.
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