Columnists
Changing our national anthem
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love
In all of us command
With glowing hearts we see thee rise
The true north strong and free!
From far and wide O Canada
We stand on guard for thee
God keep our land
Glorious and free!
O Canada we stand on guard for thee
O Canada we stand on guard for thee
I may be hastening the end of my career as a columnist, but I have to say it: O Canada is a pretty weak national anthem. Let me be more specific. I like the tune— which was written before words were set to it—but I dislike the lyric. Assuming that we can’t revert to a status quo anthem in which our national anthem is just a tune, without words, I think the tune could use some new words.
Let me state off the top that I’m not in the camp that thinks national anthems are jingoistic and out of place in a world full of worldwide problems. After all, where would hockey games be without an anthem? Singing a national anthem with people you don’t know is a bonding and communitybuilding experience. So an effort to suggest improvement is justifiable.
I’ll get straight away to what I don’t like about the words. The most egregious fault comes in the second line; “our home and native land” The reference to “native” insults Canada’s Indigenous people as well as those who have immigrated to Canada from other native lands, and who make up an increasing proportion of Canada’s population. And what of this ‘standing on guard’ business, which is mentioned three times: do we want to be a country that is known fo its dedication to keeping a watch out for its enemies? Plus, the antiquated word “thee” gets four mentions—four too many.
A national anthem is supposed to bring people together, inspire them and express pride. If I were redesigning the national anthem, I would use words that looked both to the past and to the future, acknowledged the contribution of those who have built this country and expressed optimism about contributions to come. I would also try to come up with some wording that reflected Canada’s responsibility as a fortunate citizen country of the world.
None of my criticisms are freshly minted; for example, the “native land” issue was formally raised by Toronto City Council back in 1990. However, I made it one of my New Year’s resolutions to revive the issue, and if I can’t keep the one about overindulgence, at least I can keep this one.
There are some things worth saving in the current iteration. “The true north strong and free” just about says it all. “With glowing hearts” is a decent phrase. And to call Canada “glorious” is an apt description.
It is true that tradition should be respected and given the benefit of the doubt, and that sometimes anachronisms like the words to a song are best swallowed whole to preserve that tradition. (The Star Spangled Banner is as good an example as any; changing the blood-soaked words to that one is politically unimaginable.) But O Canada only became our official national anthem in 1980. And the politicians have already had a go at changing the words, with the passage of the late Mauril Belanger’s 2018 Bill to change the phrase “all thy sons” to “all of us.” Even that battle, over a relatively innocuous change, was fiercely fought. So I am under no illusions about the likelihood of a change.
I realize that it is easy to criticize without being constructive, so I offer up below my own work in process version of a rewrite. I invite you to improve on it. How to balance the French/English split lyric, and what form the French version should take, is an issue for another day. You might also notice that God didn’t make it into my version. I could be persuaded to put him (or her) back in another draft.
O Canada
The true north strong and free
One glorious land
From sea to sea to sea
With glowing hearts we offer thanks
To those who came before
And pledge to build for those to come
A nation that endures
Our maple leaf
Proudly unfurled
Leads us to work towards a better world
Leads us to work towards a better world
There. I’ve got it off my chest. One resolution kept.
My best wishes to fellow contributor Theresa Durning, who described in her column last week her continued recovery from treatment to remove a brain tumour. You can bet your double hockey sticks we are all rooting for you.
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