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| An early printed version of O Canada in the original French. Note the French Tri-Color, Quebec Provincial flag center, and Royal Union Flag as well as the maple leaf wreath. |
O
Canada,
the nation to the north’s catchy and
highly singable national anthem was
first publicly performed on June 24, 1880 at a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony in Quebec. It had been commissioned expressly for the occasion from composer Calixa Lavallée with lyrics by poet and jurist Sir
Adolphe-Basile Routhier by the province’s
Lt. Governor Théodore Robitaille. Naturally,
it was sung in French.
Typically
a piece of music commissioned for a single performance at a religious festival—the
Feast of St. John always associated
with the summer solstice—would be
expected to quickly fade into oblivion.
But the tune, which musicologists
note borrowed from Mozart’s March of the Priests from the opera The Magic Flute, was memorable and the words stirring with just a hint Francophile and Catholic pride capable of tweaking
the nose of old John Bull and the
Empire loyalists who held sway over
the rest of the vast country. It was
introduced to schools and began to be sung at patriotic events in Quebec.
In
Anglophone Canada God
Save the Queen/King was the revered anthem and played at all state occasions and military parades even in sometimes
resentful Quebec. The popular song The
Maple Leaf Forever vied for attention from those who wanted a song to
embrace a distinct Canadian national
identity. In 1901 O Canada entered the awareness of the
other provinces when school children sang it for the tour of Canada by the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall—later King George V and Queen Mary.
In
1906 there was a first translation of
the lyrics into English, a rather literal version of the French. But two years later Robert Stanley Weir wrote a looser translation, one that eliminated
the French reference to the Cross and
being steeped in faith. With Weir’s words, the song began to
spread to the English speaking provinces, one of a basket full of popular patriotic
songs. Weir’s words would go on to have
two minor revisions before settling into the now familiar form while Lavallée’s
lyrics have remained unchanged.
The
first verse of the original version was:
Ô Canada!
Terre
de nos aïeux,
Ton
front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car
ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il
sait porter la croix!
Ton
histoire est une épopée
Des
plus brillants exploits.
Et
ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera
nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera
nos foyers et nos droits.
Sous l’œil de Dieu, près du fleuve géant.
Which translated as:
O
Canada!
Land
of our forefathers,
Thy
brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers.
As
is thy arm ready to wield the sword,
So
also is it ready to carry the cross.
Thy
history is an epic
Of
the most brilliant exploits.
Thy
valour steeped in faith
Will
protect our homes and our rights.
Will
protect our homes and our rights.
The 1906 Weir version went:
O
Canada!
Our
home and native land!
True
patriot love in all thou dost in 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.
In
1914 when Canada joined the rest of the British Empire in sending troops to
fight in the World War I trenches in
France, Weir amended his third line
to read “True patriot love in all thy sons command” in honor of the home-grown heroes.
Among
those troops O Canada gained special
favor as a stirring marching song that could also be belted out in the pubs and bistros as a boastful challenge to the Limeys, Palois, and eventually the Yanks. Like their preference
for the Canadian Red Ensign over
either the Union Jack or Royal Union flags reflected growing
nationalist feelings that the boys brought home with them at war’s end.
Just
like their neighbor to the south, the post war period was marked by industrial upheaval, class war, and general strikes inspired by the successful Russian Revolution. Canada
had its own great Red Scare and
period of ruthless suppression of
the labor movement, left socialists, and Communists spearheaded by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Denouncing Godless Communism became a byword for Tories. The complete absence
of any religious content in Weir’s English version of the song became a scandal. In 1924 a new final verse was added to the English version with enough religion to
satisfy even the most pious.
Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our Dominion in thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the better Day,
We ever stand on guard.
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| King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth at the dedication of the National War Memorial in Ottawa in 1939. Earlier he had stood at attention during the playing of O Canada, which was seen as validating the song as an Anthem. |
Although
the most stubbornly Anglophone provinces and those like British Columbia firmly in the grips of the most traditionalist
Empire Loyalists, clung to God Save the
King, O Canada gained traction as a semi-official
anthem when King Edward VIII
remained at attention when it was played at the dedication of the Canadian
National Vimy Memorial in France in 1936.
His brother and successor King George VI did the same three years
later when he dedicated the National War
Memorial in Ottawa as war clouds
gathered over Europe. It was hard for Empire loyalists to argue
against the song as an anthem when seemingly endorsed by two Kings. None-the-less they pointed out that both Monarchs also stood for their personal
salute, God Save the King.
Once
again O Canada was a favorite with
Canadian troops, sailors, and airmen serving around the world.
By the ‘60’s the very continued existence of Canada
as a unified nation seemed to be threatened by a rising tide of Quebecquoi
nationalist separatism. The adoption of the red and white Maple Leaf flag
as the official national banner in
1965 was seen as a symbol of unity. At the same time the flag was wending its
way to official adoption Liberal Prime
Minister Lester Pearson moved to adopt a single official National Anthem. The
candidates were, God Save the Queen,
which everyone knew was unacceptable to the Quebecquoi, and O Canada.
He did what savvy politicians
always do with a hot potato—he turned
the issue over to joint committee to review the status of
the two songs in 1964. That resulted in
a compromise that Pearson brought to Parliament
in 1965 that “the government be
authorized to take such steps as may be necessary to provide that O Canada shall be the National Anthem
of Canada while God Save the Queen shall be the Royal Anthem of Canada.”
That meant the Anglophone favorite would be reserved for state visits of
the monarch and her family. That was approved in 1967
A
new Joint Committee recommended that one verse of each song be sung in both
languages at official occasions. The
Committee also settled on a final version of the English lyrics, tinkering with
it here and there while leaving the French version as originally written.
In
1970 Queen Elizabeth II officially
purchased the copyright of the
melody and Weir’s English lyrics from
publisher Gordon V. Thompson Music of
Toronto so that they would “belong to the people.”
And
it was not until the adoption of the National
Anthem Act in 1980 that O Canada finally
became totally official.
Like
the Maple Leaf flag, the Canadian people have warmed to the song, even most of
the most recalcitrant Empire loyalists and Quebec separatists. The two symbols together have done much to smooth
over old tensions and heighten a sense of national identity.
 |
| The high point of the Vancouver Olympic Games for hockey mad Canada was when Team Canada stood at attention for the raising of the Maple Leaf flag and the playing of O Canada. |
Perhaps because of its exposure to the
American fetish with their anthem that the Canadians adopted the custom of
singing O Canada at virtually all sports events and many other communal occasions, not common in most
of the world unless international
competitions are involved. The Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010 gave
energy to a wave of national enthusiasm for both the flag and the anthem.
Following the lead of the National Hockey League, Major League
Baseball, the National Basketball
Association, and bi-national inter-collegiate
athletic competitions always feature the national anthems of both countries
before the beginning of the games with the visiting teams song sung first. Thus many Americans have learned the Canadian
Anthem which is so much more catchy and easy to sing than the challenging Star
Spangled Banner. More than one
Yank fan has left a stadium with the Canadian song still stuck in his or her
head.
Recently there has been renewed controversy over the English lyrics and
calls for revision by the Toronto City Council
and others. Critics want Weir’s
original “all thou dost in us command” restored instead of “all thy sons
command” which is seen as exclusionary
of women and sexist. Similarly they want “our home and native land”
be changed to “our home and cherished land” to be inclusive of the many
immigrants in the country and acknowledging that First Nations people are the true natives. Although both of these changes were put
forward by the government via the annual Throne
Speech delivered by Governor General
Michaëlle Jean on March 3, 2010 but
an overwhelmingly negative public
reaction caused the government to withdraw the legislation in just three days.
Meanwhile secularists and advocates of religious
liberty are raising objections to the religious content of the English
version. They do not seem to be gaining
much traction as many Canadians now think of O Canada as a cherished,
immutable, and ancient tradition.
And the damn song has been stuck in my
head the entire time I have been writing this…..
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