It’s some serious bling that is hard to miss.
Every council meeting, District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little wears a silver metal chain with a medallion around his neck. At a glance, it’s a curious detail you might not even notice during council discussions, but its significance has a lot more weight to it.
Since 1981, each mayor in the District of North Vancouver has worn the chain of office, a piece of regalia that marks the leadership position but also includes details about the municipality’s history.
“For local governments, this is a well recognized way to represent the office,” Little said.
Mayors or other higher officials wearing a chain of office, also called a livery collar, is a tradition that dates back centuries. The heavy chains were typically made of gold and carried an official seal to symbolize the wearer’s authority. The Collar of Esses, one of the oldest and best-known livery collars, has been in continuous use in England since the 14th century.
The chains have evolved into the modern chain of office we see today, worn by many municipal leaders in England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The practice has also been adopted in other non-Commonwealth countries such as Germany, Norway and the Netherlands.
North Vancouver’s chain of office is a lot newer, going back just over 40 years. Little said the Derek Inman family donated the chain to the district. Inman was known for civic initiatives in the community. He was named to the Order of Canada for his work with various North Shore organizations.
Today, the chain of office is made up of leaf-shaped tokens around the neck, with each one ingrained with a mayor’s name and years served. A gold and silver medallion hangs from the bottom, with a logo of the District of North Vancouver sketched in, showing tall ships in the Vancouver Harbour with the scenic North Shore behind, all sewed together on a cloth backing.
Little has been wearing the chain of office in council meetings since he was elected in 2018. His name is in the chain along with other names including Charles Phibbs and James Cooper Keith, two of the district’s earliest mayors, as well as City of North Vancouver Coun. Don Bell, who served as district mayor in the 1970s and ‘90s.
“So it’s a big part of our history,” Little said. “It’s great to be a part of such a long relationship with the community.”
Ceremonial occasions and traditions
For City of Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, his municipality’s chain of office comes out on special occasions, including Remembrance Day.
“It’s whatever tradition your city [has], basically,” Brodie said. “I would rather wear it where it’s a really important solemn occasion, then it’s kind of special.”
Brodie has been mayor for over 24 years. “M. Brodie, 2001” is marked on Richmond’s chain of office.
The municipality’s chain of office dates back to the early 1980s, he said. Gilbert Blair was the first to wear the chain, who served as mayor from 1973 to 1990. A group of residents rallied together to raise funds to bring Richmond’s chain of office to life, he said.
The chain’s body is gold, interlocking small separator bars and medallions together and behind a blue cloth. The medallions have designs symbolizing Richmond, B.C. and Canada, including an anchor representing the municipality’s fishing industry, dogwood marking the provincial flower and the maple leaf. The names of Richmond mayors are on the gold bars, giving a historical record of municipal leaders.
“I think that every city should have a chain of office as the official symbol of the office,” Brodie said. “It’s a symbol of the position of the mayor … you’re the chief executive officer of the city, and so it’s symbolic of that kind of position in public life.”
A reminder of community duty
District of Squamish Mayor Armand Hurford said the chain of office serves as a reminder of the weight of responsibility that comes with the role.
“Both physically and metaphorically,” Hurford said. “The role of mayor I think is something very few people get to experience, and it does come with a lot of responsibilities.”
Squamish’s chain of office came into the district in 2005, a relatively young piece compared to other municipalities. When former Mayor Ian Sutherland visited Japan and Italy, he noticed the hosts were surprised to learn that Squamish didn’t have any official piece of regalia to go with the role. A chain of office was crafted shortly after.
Hurford said the chain cost $2,000 at the time. Squamish’s chain has a dark blue cloth with a silver chain. It carries a similar style to other municipal chains, with maple leafs and dogwood flowers on it, along with the names of previous mayors and their dates in office.
“I find the engraving of the names to be quite interesting,” he said. “[It] sort of shows that the mayor is part of a continuance of the work of those that have come before, and there are some spaces there for those yet to come.”
The medallion hanging on the front is decorated with an older logo of Squamish, with the words “outdoor capital of Canada” engraved on it.
Squamish’s chain lives mostly in a display case at municipal hall, as Hurford takes a different approach to the chain. The Squamish mayor has only worn it once, when he was sworn into the role in 2022.
“These chains of office and so on are probably the epitome of colonial practices,” he said. “Even in our procedure bylaw, we’ve removed references to the mayor being refered to as your worship… There’s a lot of aspects to consider as you’re governing, not just what you’re doing but how you’re doing it.”
It’s still a piece to celebrate though, he said, as it’s brought out for the district’s annual mayor for a day event, where students are invited for a municipal hall tour and can try on the chain of office.
“It’s my favourite day of the year,” he said. “There’s a quiet that comes over when that comes out and they get to put it on. It definitely has an impact and I think it’s appreciated.”
This story was part of a collaborative feature by Lodestar publications in an election year to highlight the importance of local government during Local Government Awareness Week.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
By Abby Luciano, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Original Published on May 14, 2026 at 21:55
Recent Comments