O Canada, Who Are You? - Page 2
By 2031, according to Canada's Globe and Mail, one in three Canadians will be a minority, and one in four will be foreign-born. The need for a unified vision of purpose has surely never been greater, and no single expression of this purpose will be more visible than Canada's national anthem. If it can pick one.
In the United States, we have struggled with the same pressures from immigration; have been lured by bigotry and protectionism. But from the very beginning, we told a beautiful lie about ourselves and waited for it to come true. We waited more than 200 years and argued incessantly about the best route, but the goal has remained the same.
If the Queen of England is still on your money, and if Prince Charles is about to replace her, you might wonder about the irony of calling your dollar coins "loonies."
If it's a truly national anthem, there can only be one version. It doesn't need bombs bursting in air, although concrete language definitely helps. The original French Canadian anthem is clear and concrete, and if I were Canadian I would sing the French version. I would sing it badly and mispronounce the words, but I would get the sentiment right, and I would sing it proudly. After all, the composer, Calixa Lavallée, was a Canadian who fought in the American Civil War and died in Boston. We share a vision of unity through diversity, of strength through independence. And we are willing to share our anthem with our northern neighbors if it helps. Especially since we only won nine gold medals, and could stand to hear our anthem a few more times.
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