Peter Kuitenbrouwer on Canada's national anthem

Published: June 28, 2008, 1:58 am

Poor O Canada. Will nobody ever learn the words?It really isn't Canadians' fault. Many genuinely want to sing our national anthem. But throughout history, circumstance has conspired against us learning the song. And the latest trend, to sing O Canada partly in English and partly in French, is not making things any easier.In the beginning, when Calixa Laval e composed a tune for a big celebration of the French in North America, in Quebec City on St. Jean Baptiste Day in 1880, the song only had French words. Judge Adolphe Basile Routhier, from St. Placide, Quebec, wrote them: O Canada! terre de nos a eux. Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux! (O Canada, land of our forefathers. Your crown is wreathed with a garland of flowers.)The melody, first played in English Canada in 1901 for a visit by the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary, had no English words. People in English Canada liked the melody, and began to write their own. By 1925, Prime

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