Written by Zach Siddiqui, Opinions Editor
Woven together in Quebec City in the 19th century and swiftly setting a previously dark void in our country’s identity alight, the verses of “O Canada” resonate across this country’s collective consciousness with alacrity. That flame is a lighthouse of hope for some and the impetus for a spark of rebellion in others. However, in recent, more critical times, the lyrical trademark of the so-called “true north” has been called out for its issues.
There’s been huge debate between government figures over whether or not to make the song gender-neutral. Others have contested terms like “our home and native land,” a title of incredibly poor taste given how our French and British forebears wronged the Indigenous peoples who are actually native to this space. It’s even been suggested that our anthem takes bad cues from American culture in that it’s far too battle-ready with lines like “we stand on guard for thee.”
Should we preserve our national song or revise its more sinister undertones? Both sides of this question, I’m sure, have provided you with endless defenses. But I think there are problems with both of these approaches.
I don’t see Canadian tradition as anything sacred by itself. If an anthem that’s meant to represent this country doesn’t do that accurately or tastefully, then we need to be willing to challenge it without fear of disrespecting our past.
At the same time, is changing the anthem necessary to challenge it? Is it even the best way to do so?
Our national symbols are not just etchings of ideology, but those of history. We say that a defence of the anthem sweeps all the skeletons lingering in our past out of sight and mind. But to me, line-editing the anthem does the exact same thing in the long run.
There is a level of revisionism, a level of denial, in wanting to cut away the parts of our anthem that we don’t like. It is ignoring our history rather than compensating for it. It is just playing pretend that we are not still prone to the weaknesses and fallacies that are celebrated in that piece.
What happens if we tweak the words that have people in the biggest tizzy? Will we then sing “O Canada” with pride and a few switched syllables, ignoring the deeper, dangerous social context the song thrived in?
God, I hope not. Because if that is what really drives the desire for a new edition, then we’re just looking for yet another thing to enable celebrating this country without talking about its masked black marks, the stigmas it has stuck its people with. Something we can sing without guilt — except that maybe that guilt is important.
We shouldn’t blindly recite “O Canada” as patriotism. Nor do I think we should change our history to something more palatable to us. I say, sing it and remember.
Because when I sing “O Canada,” yes, there is definitely love for this kind place I call home here and now. But there is also a memory, the sourness of a past scarred by gender inequality and penetrated geography.
Both those feelings are real, and I wouldn’t want to erase that record of Canada’s crimes. Not yet. Running away from our bloody beginnings just for the sake of our own pride is self-satisfaction, and the idea that doing that is helping any of this country’s victims comes from a place of privilege — a fact which is driven home, to me, by the number of upper-class white men who feel like they gotta chime in, in one direction or the other.
I accept that the way we use language in our daily lives has a subtle influence on our mindsets, and that it could be insidious for something as deeply tied to Canadian cultural identity as the anthem to contain undesirable and outdated phrasings. But the interpretation is decided by the cultural context of “O Canada,” and that’s what has to change. It should be seen as a song of reflection, not one of joy.
If we get to the point where the hard work we’ve put into atoning for our wrongs is truly done to all Canadians’ satisfaction, a long way off from today, then maybe we can talk about moving away from this anthem. Write a new one from scratch. Find a different way entirely to love Canada. Until then, the anthem should be our tough love.
