Canada
"O Canada"

Words by: Adolphe-Basile Routhier (French), Robert Stanley Weir (English)
Music by: Calixa Lavallee
Adopted: 1980

"O Canada" was written in 1880 and was sung for the first time later that year at a banquet in the Pavillion des Patineurs in Quebec City. The French words have remained the same to this day. The English version, however, has a more interesting history. When Routhier's lyrics were first published in Toronto, a doctor named Thomas Bedford Richardson translated the words of the first and fourth verses into English and to fit the melody. Two years later, the first edition of the Canadian version of Collier's Weekly held a competition to write English lyrics to the song. Mercy E. Powell McCulloch won the competition with her entry. The words were rewritten again and again, but one version gained the most popularity. It was written by Montreal lawyer Robert Stanley Weir, and only slightly differs from the English version used today.

The anthem was performed for Edward VIII in 1936 and King George VI in 1939 on their visits to Canada, and the Kings saluted the song as if it was the national anthem. It then started to be used more frequently as an unofficial anthem and in 1967 it was approved by Parliament as the national anthem, and was made official by the National Anthem Act of 1980. The national anthem officially only consists of one verse in both English and French, yet the original poems of both Routhier and Weir have four verses.

Since the adoption of the anthem, there has been occassional attempts to once more slightly alter the English lyrics of the national anthem, to change the gender-specificness of the phrase "in all thy sons command", or to alter the phrase "our home and native land" to reflect the new immigrants of the country, or to remove the reference to God. To date, however, the lyrics remain unchanged.

Before the official adoption of "O Canada" in 1980, the official national anthem of Canada was "God Save the Queen", yet "O Canada" was used on an unofficial basis, as well as the patriotic song "The Maple Leaf Forever"

Canada, being a former British colony (and "O Canada" being composed not that long after independence was granted), has its anthem in the "Western hymn" style of anthem.

It is interesting to note that, while having both English and French lyrics (Canada is an officially bilingual country), and both languages' version of the anthem share the same melody, each official language has different words for the anthem. The lyrics below give the official English and French lyrics, as well as the official English translation of the French lyrics.

There are also other patriotic songs (including "The Maple Leaf Forever," above) for Canada and her provinces and regions as well as the nation as a whole, you can find a list at the website of Canadian Heritage (a government agency).

See also: Newfoundland, Acadia.