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To: Ahda who wrote (86917)	6/14/2002 5:52:29 PM
From: E. Charters	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116781

Calixa Lavallee wrote that music for his brass band in Quebec city in 1880. The Lyrics were entirely in French originally. In this language it is an appeal to the Quebecois to resist the English control of "their" province as they see it. (Quebec was largely English since 1650, 100 miles north of St. Lawrence) Here are the fr. lyrics translated. They remain in fr., unchanged to this day. These were written in 1880 by Routhier. As you can see it is breathtakingly different and is obviously a subtle call to armed rebellion. The man who wrote it, a Quebec judge by the name of Routhier, was an avowed separatiste and sympathizer with the liberal crony and rebel Papineau. The song was written as a hymn for St. Jean Baptiste day, which is a holiday in Quebec which is widely regarded as an purposeful effront to English Canada. O Canada! Land of our forefathers Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers. As in 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. Ch. Thy valour steeped in faith Will protect our homes and our rights Will protect our homes and our rights. ************* This is the Weir Translation of 1908, which we used to sing in schools in 1950, although it was not then the Anthem. (God Save the Queen was.) There are about 5 other early free "translations." Canada is the only country in the world that has two widely different lyrics to its national anthem, which mean in different languages two different things to two different people. BTW, the province of Quebec gets it name for the colony of Quebec which included Ontario AND Quebec, and was subdivided into upper (Ontario) and lower Canada. O Canada! Our home and native land True patriot love thou dost in us command. We see thee rising fair, dear land, The True North strong and free; And stand on guard, O Canada, We stand on guard for thee. O Canada! O Canada! O Canada! We stand on guard for thee. O Canada! We stand on guard for thee. ************** The song was foisted on us in 1980 as the Anthem, in order to divest the country of connections with the British crown, the Statute of Wesminster and the British North America Act. This was part of the aggressive 40 year campaign by the fr. liberals to make the character of the country, as resolutely bi-partisan, with native fr. speakers as the only people electable to high office, and the only people who could hold government civil service jobs in most departments. This would be the start of dual language requirements in government and commerce throughout Canada and the gradual erosion of the dominance of English speaking commerce within Canada. How I feel about this is that it is too bad that the rise of fr. commercial power within Quebec had to be bought at the expense of English power in the rest of the country. It all too often looks like a fr. takeover of the country. This has created a polarizing backlash, and resulted in fragmentary conservative politics which cannot get a vote in Quebec as they cannot offer the Quebecois the country in its entirety. It is quite obvious that it should not be requirement to be bilingual to be in office or in the civil service. It might be handy, but it should not be required. You cannot campaign on this issue as it looks like divestment of fr. speaking rights. So how do you handle it? EC<:-}