Well I'm glad to hear the Canadian government has changed it's mind about changing the lyrics to the national anthem: http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cbc-article.aspx?cp-documentid=23586320
They are the ones that sparked the controversy by telling the media they were considering changing the lyrics. If something's not broken, don't fix it. Indeed there are a couple of places that could be more politically correct but as soon as you change one thing then you get a million special interest groups that want to change everything and forget the historical tradition in which it was written.
Speaking of which, did you know that the National Anthem was originally written in French? I didn't. According to Wikipedia, the original French lyrics were written by Sir Adolphe Basile Routhier, as a French Canadian patriotic song for the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society. The French singing of "Ô Canada" was first performed on June 24, 1880, at a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day banquet in Quebec City. The Canadian government had bought the rights to the lyrics and music for one symbolic Canadian dollar in 1970.
Can you believe that? O Canada was originally a French song for the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society. Wow. Calixa Lavallée wrote the music, which was a setting of a patriotic poem composed by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The lyrics were in French, but were translated into English in 1906.
The English translation of the lyrics was produced two years before Robert Stanley Weir wrote another English version, one that is not a literal translation of the French. Weir's lyrics have been revised twice, taking their present form in 1980, but the French lyrics remain unaltered.
I felt that we all need to know the French lyrics to the song better but upon discovering the historical origin of the song, it would be well worth reading the original French lyrics as well as memorizing the current French lyrics. Salut!
Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
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