Sault Star, beer company set to be cut from mayor's chain of office

Mayor Matthew Shoemaker wants to spend between $5,000 and $7,500 to update his ceremonial chain of office

Our mayor’s livery collar was donated by the now-defunct Jaycees service club in 1955.Kenneth Armstrong

Matthew Shoemaker may soon look less like a logo-plastered NASCAR driver when he steps out on special occasions wearing his official mayor's chain of office.

Mayor Shoemaker will ask city council next week for permission to remove all corporate names from the 68-year-old ceremonial collar, which includes medallions celebrating Algoma Steel, the Sault Star, Great Lakes Power, Algoma Central Railway and Doran's Brewery, a predecessor to Northern Superior Brewing Co.

Instead of proclaiming those private interests closest to the mayoral heart, Shoemaker wants the chain modified for an estimated cost of $5,000–$7,500 so it celebrates generalized commercial sectors that play major roles in the local economy.

"There is a long history attached to mayoral chains of office, which date back to the middle ages," the mayor says in a report prepared for Monday's city council meeting, after discussions with former mayors Steve Butland, Debbie Amaroso and Christian Provenzano.

"Chains of office (often referred to in the United Kingdom as livery collars), are typically a representation of the office of mayor, worn by mayors when on official duties.

"While not often used, the City of Sault Ste. Marie’s chain of office dates back to 1955. It was created and donated to the City by the Jaycees. The Jaycees are a youth leadership development organization that was active in Sault Ste. Marie at the time.

"The mayor's chain of office follows the traditional design of chains of office throughout the commonwealth. The large central medallion is pervasive in chains of office. The smaller medallions that form the chain represent companies, organizations or places that were significant to history.

"A number of the companies and organizations that are represented no longer exist or are represented in culturally insensitive ways. Further, a number of organizations or places that played a significant role in our community’s history are not represented by the medallions."

Shoemaker is concerned that Township of Korah and Township of Tarentorus have their own medallions on the chain of office, but Steelton doesn't.

"The police and fire departments are represented, but paramedics are not. Other companies such as Abitibi Power and Paper, Roddis Lumber, Yankcanuck Steamships, Dominion Bridge and Doran’s Brewery either no longer exist or exist in different forms.

"The medallion that is intended to be a representation of 'Treaty Indians' is a troubling stereotypical depiction of an Indigenous person."

Shortly after Shoemaker was elected mayor, the chain's big central medallion, was recast to show a new version of the city's coat of arms.

"It is time to update the small medallions that form the chain to more properly reflect the city's history," Shoemaker says.

"As a starting point, the companies represented should be generalized so that the industries those companies work within are what is represented and not the specific corporations themselves, which change often.

"Second, foundational communities like the Township of Steelton should be added to the chain of office alongside existing representations of the Townships of Korah and Tarentorus. Others, like the fire department medallion and the police department medallion should be consolidated into a single medallion, with paramedics represented on that same medallion."

Shoemaker has talked with chiefs of Batchewana First Nation and Garden River First Nation and wants to replace the so-called 'Treaty Indians' medallion with something less offensive.

"The medallion representing the Jaycees, though no longer an active group in our community, will be maintained to recognize their donation of the chain of office to the city in 1955."

Here are the medallions that would be displayed on his updated chain of office: