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You know your branding is in trouble when Canadians see your logo and think, “Hey, isn’t that from the lumber store that vanished a quarter-century ago?”

According to in-house polling, only 30 percent of Canadians could correctly identify the beaver logo as belonging to Parks Canada. The rest? Well, they were nostalgically misinformed. Eleven percent thought it was Roots. Four percent guessed Beaver Lumber — Beaver Lumber! — a hardware chain that’s been dead and buried since 2000.

Let that sink in. A defunct building supply company that's been gone longer than some of the people surveyed have been alive.

And what did taxpayers get for this illuminating insight? According to Blacklock's, which broke this story, a $13,560 bill for a logo-recognition quiz.

Now, you might think that after 50 years of having the beaver as an official national symbol — and since 1851 as a stamp icon — Parks Canada would’ve made more of an impression. But you'd be wrong. In fact, a separate 2014 survey found more than half of Canadians couldn’t even name Parks Canada’s symbol. Some guessed a maple leaf. Others just threw in a flower for good measure.

So what’s the government’s solution to this PR identity crisis? Mascots and statues. In 2016, Parks Canada announced plans to install 215 statues of “Parka the Beaver” at parks across the country. The goal? To “lead young children into a lifelong relationship with Parks Canada.” Because nothing says ecological integrity like a fiberglass cartoon rodent.

So I did a test. Because I noticed something, two years ago. It was the same last year. And it is the same thing this year. I went to the national park I live next door to today. I just wanted one of those classic beaver stickers. Brown and yellow. Something simple. Iconic. Canadian. And what did they have?

Rainbow beavers. I could not buy the iconic beaver logo sticker.

The gift store only had Pride-coloured beavers. As if gay hikers won’t visit a national park unless the branding is sufficiently woke. I refuse to believe that. I think only woke Parks Canada bureaucrats care about this stuff.

Maybe that’s the real reason Canadians still remember Beaver Lumber — because it never changed. It didn’t moralize. It didn’t politicize. It just sold you lumber, left you alone, and quietly faded away.

And in 2025, apparently, that’s enough to make it a national treasure.