O O Ø O O O O
Oh, Canada!
Why do we try to define and preserve what our culture is and what cultural icons are “acceptable?” Why do people go to such great pains to protect it? Why do small groups of individuals use positions of power to try to mold a culture to their view of what it should be, instead of just letting it evolve? Are we so afraid of looking in the mirror and accepting what we see?
There have been a number of references of late about how our national anthem must be changed. Of course, because it has something to do with a piece of Canadiana, that windbag Shelia Copps is now weighing in on whether she should support the motion to change it or not, and that's apparently news. Speaking of cows, why is it that Copps is always sought out on matters like this? I know she heads up Heritage Canada, but can you recall one time where you've thought positively about what she's done? My three best memories of her were John Crosbie affixing her moniker, Larry Flynt letting her know what he thought of her protectionist measures in the publishing industry, and her proving she had not a thread of integrity by resigning when the GST wasn't pulled as promised when the Liberals ousted the Tories, and then immediately running back to the public service troft. Positive thoughts all, but I seem to be slipping into Shelia Copps rant, better get back to the matter at hand.
Here are the official lyrics to the Canadian anthem, which were adopted in 1968 and have not changed since:
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
Apparently it's sexist. I don't see it.
The offending line is “True patriot love in all thy sons command”. Apparently it's sexist. I don't see it. Our elected officials have decided that legislation should be introduced that will change the line to “In all our youth command”. No fooling, they're going to put it before the House of Commons soon because they feel it's so important that our elected representatives should pass the change into law for the good of the people. Must be a slow decade or something. Personally, I think the word “sons” is perfectly acceptable. Using anything other than a monosyllable will screw up the meter, and I don't think I've ever thought any less of female countryfolk because of our anthem - they give me plenty of reasons all by their lonesome.
Considering they're looking at changing our anthem now, maybe it's time for an overhaul of the whole damn thing. Why waste all that time and effort to change one little line. An anthem should be representative of the country, its people, and its values. Surely we have changed some since 1968, and we should be hip and reflect those changes in the song that defines us.
Our currency is in the dumps, manufacturing jobs continue to be lost to Mexico and Asia, professionals continue to leave the country for better jobs and pay, and the last fifteen-odd years of rule by Mr. Chretien and Mr. Mulroney have managed to take what Trudeau's cabinet (and the people in the sixties and seventies in general) did for Canada and throw it right out the window. The current behaviour doesn't look like it's stopping any time soon, either. We're only still in the G8 only because that idiot in office, who speaks English about as well as a mime with a cleft lip and dentures, continues to pick up the tab and play world statesman with all the other leaders who are smart enough to realize the meetings are great for the food, but not much else.
Canada has been, and continues to be, a country that has a pretty high percentage of population growth due to immigration. I myself am only second-generation Canadian, and there are a lot of folks who call this place “home” which certainly is not their native land. I am concerned that the second line might make some of our new countryfolk feel unwelcome, as you don't have to be native to be Canadian. Can you imagine what our Olympic team would look like if only native Canadians were allowed to compete? The horror, the horror! We should also better advertise the social benefits that come with being Canadian, where nothing is your fault and if you don't want to work or be part of the social fabric, you don't have to!!! Better still, the government (a.k.a. your fellow countryfolk) will pick up your tab!!! What a deal - you can contribute sweet-fuck-all to the collective good, and reap the rewards of the people who actually contribute to the collective good. NB: I am not saying immigration does this, I know way too many goldbrickers to believe our social programming difficulties are all from immigration.
Mr. Chretien and Mr. Mulroney have managed to take what Trudeau's cabinet (and the people in the sixties and seventies in general) did for Canada and throw it right out the window.
I like the next line even less, sexism aside. Any country whose legal system tolerates hateful drivel like the stuff you can find by looking under the covers just a little under the guise of freedom of speech should not be talking about patriot love. I can't find them any more, but these clowns used to have ads with a picture of a little girl in a dirty shirt looking sad and the caption “IMMIGRANTS ARE STEALING HER FUTURE” or some such nonsense. Wow - I am so feeling the love, pure and unadulterated. I'm willing to bet the folks who write the “articles” within are the same parasites who bleed the system dry while enjoying Welfare Wednesdays at the local swill while the people who actually need the help pay for your raping of funds.
My heart still glows, but it is a heavy heart that watches the future. I do not see Canada rising, I see it continuing to fall as people (including myself, for shame) stand glibly by accepting the colourless, thin gruel our elected leaders feed us as some kind of feast. Mr. Chretien, we are NOT a resource-based economy, no matter how much you like saying it/believing it. We are a service-based economy, and a little research will prove it. Whoring out our natural resources for rock bottom prices to an over-consumption machine just to push the export numbers up so you can say “look, we're successful!” is not fiscally responsible, it's selling out, has eroded our economic independence, and have turned us into the equivalent of Target for the US and Japan. Unlike you, Joe/Jill Canadian can't vote themselves a raise when the value of their salary drops, so they pay the price and actually care about their money being worth something.
I won't even go too deep into freedom. We're constrained by a dictatorial government that continues day in and day-out to fleece the public and dictate how they will go about their lives. Look at the end results of the HRDC funding insanity, the payouts to grit-loving ad agencies, and various other “scandals” - lots of noise is made, but nothing has really changed in years. At least we've still got the “True North” part going for us... well, except for that little piece of worthless land known as Alaska. I can't easily make my country better because the political and economic system is, in my opinion, rigged. As people have said in the past, Canada doesn't have competition, they have monopolies, and those monopolies are at every level (just look at 90% of the companies in SaskAtchewan as a great example). We're free as in beer, whatever the hell that means.
We are NOT a resource based economy, no matter how much you like saying it
Finally, we really need to change the last verse. We have a society that doesn't believe in funding our armed forces for defending our country and the quality of life we believe in (a.k.a. “Peacekeeping”). We're really quick to point out how good our military is at keeping the peace, but only for the thirty-second soundbyte and chest-thumping. While we tell ourselves how great we are at being an intermediary (while never getting anywhere near the action), the men and women who actually do the dirty work get a pittance as compensation, very little credit for doing the job well (tip 'o the hat to the folks in Edmonton who showed us how it should be done), and get raked over the coals as a whole when individuals take advantage of their position (unlike some of our elected representatives).
Wow - that's going to be quite the rewrite. “So,” you say from behind your beer, “what should we change to make the anthem more in line with what we have today?”, and to this I say “absolutely nothing”. What a depressing little ditty that would be (I actually did rewrite it, it was sad).
Our national anthem, I think, represents the ideals of how we would like to be seen as a country inside and outside our borders. I don't think “sons” is sexist in meaning, and if some of my fellow citizens are being caused mental anguish by being excluded because they are a “daughter” of the country and not represented in the anthem, they probably need a little more therapy. I will allow for the possibility that they have a right to feel this way as I am a male and therefore, in any matters related to women, “wrong”. Perhaps I fear change, but such a huge deal has been made about changing that one word as a matter of law that I now find the whole idea repugnant.
The anthem is supposed to be familiar, and it's supposed to make me feel good. It does that. I love the sound of 15,000-odd people singing it before the hockey game. I hate it when the people singing it take artistic license with the lyrics or presentation style, and make “Canada” a fourteen-syllable, three-octave word, but that's a topic for another day. I have fond memories of standing beside my desk and in homeroom as it was played every morning in school, it reminded me of who I was, and how lucky I was (and am) to be here. If people feel that strongly about the wording being changed, then start singing it that way, no one will stop you. That's freedom.
If enough people like the change and pick up on it, the “official” words will be changed in the background when nobody notices, and that's the way it's supposed to work.
...it reminded me of who I was, and how lucky I was...
The rest of what I have vented my spleen over today I believe in very strongly. The ideals embodied in the anthem, the flag, and all things Canadian remind me why I love this place so much. I don't want to lose it, and if we keep going down the path our government has set out the previous two decades(ish), I will - and that means you will, too. Legislating changes to a culture don't work - culture changes because the collective mentality changes, not because one or two people looking for a cheap way to get airtime will it.
To our elected officials, please keep out of this one; you'll just screw it up like you've managed to do with everything else you touch. Let the people decide, we do have minds.
Tuesday, August 6, 2002
PD DLIX
P.S.Sean W. Dexter, formerly of 47 Peary Way, Kanata, ON - you are NOT going to get away with ripping me off. Your insurance company will be talking to you RSN, didn't you know registration information is a matter of public record?