The Toronto Star: O Canada was always a remix
Our hymne nationale is a geste politique that must be borne of truth and reconciliation
À lire dans le journal The Toronto Star | Read in The Toronto Star
O Canada was always a remix
Our hymne nationale is a geste politique that must be borne of truth and reconciliation
Jully Black ushered in a new era of the remix.
When Canada’s queen of R&B sang “O Canada, our home on Native land” at the NBA All-Star Game in February 2023, it was an extraordinary gesture borne of truth and reconciliation with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples across Canada.
"I didn't want to disrespect the songwriter," explained Black. "I also realize that we are on the land, we don't own it, it's not ours. I wish I could kind of sit with the songwriter and say, 'Hey, you might have got the facts wrong. And could we do a bit of a remix?"
Inspired by the French Canadian chant national, the national anthem was written by Robert Stanley Weir in 1908, nearly three decades after Ô Canada (with the accent circonflexe) made its debut. Its lyrics would be altered in 1968. Again in 1980 – the year it became the national anthem. And finally, in 2018, when "in all thy sons" became "in all of us command."
Ô Canada, the original, its lyrics immutable and unchanged since 1880, was a religious and nationalist poem sung for the first time on the Fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste in June 1880, at a moment in time when the word “Canada” still referred to “French Canada”.
“The English translations already constitute a form of political recuperation of a song that was conceived to speak of something quite different from what it represents today," wrote columnist Emilie Nicolas for Le Devoir.
Oui.
Jully Black’s remix of O Canada was a reclamation, the political recuperation of a song that speaks of our country today. Likewise, Algerian-born Franco-Ontarian artist Mehdi Cayenne also sang his Ô Canada in 2010, a “polemic,” and "antipatriotic” commentary that rigorously examined nationalism.
"Ô Canada,” he opens, “Our home on Native land."
"As an immigrant, you don't get the whole story," he explained in 2019. "Ultimately, it's not the Canadian government that welcomes you, it's the sovereign nations of Indigenous peoples who welcome you."
A terre d’accueil, here, on Indigenous lands.
In August, a poll by Research Co. indicated that 41% of English-speaking Canadians favour “Our home on Native land,” suggesting that the arc of history is on the side of those among us who want a decolonial remix.
Some are resisting the call for edits, invoking “history” and “tradition.” But if it is history we are chasing, then let’s honour the treaties that govern these lands. And if it is tradition we seek, then let’s embrace the spirit of Ô Canada’s forgotten original verses, which call on us to "on our soil establish the truth," and to "be a people of brothers.”
O Canada was always a remix.
As a geste politique, it must be borne of truth and reconciliation. One that acknowledges that Canada is our “home on Native land.”
Isabelle Bourgeault-Tassé is a Franco-Ontarian writer. She publishes on Substack.