Lyrics to French O Canada still a politically correct nightmare, but nobody cares

Nationalpost.com
June 16, 2016
By Tristin Hopper

While English Canada was feverishly writing letters and attending committee hearings over a slight change to O Canada, the issue has gone almost completely unnoticed in Quebec.

And the reason is simple; while English Canadians will now sing a gender neutral “in all of us command,” the French version of O Canada will still be chock full of gendered language, Christian triumphalism and straight-up 19th century saber-rattling.

“Your arm knows how to wield a sword,” sing Francophone Canadians in the “with glowing hearts” part.

Altogether, the official French lyrics bear almost no resemblance to those in English. While Anglophones hint at a northern land that they’ll guard somehow, the French version directly addresses Canada as a devout figure ready to smite its enemies.

Described as a someone whose “valour is steeped in faith,” the Canada figure carries both a cross and a sword and is cloaked in heroic wreaths of flowers.

“Your history is an epic of brilliant exploits,” it reads.

Instead of a vague “stand on guard for thee,” French O Canada vows that this personified Canada will “protect our homes and rights.”

And the triumphalism shifts into overdrive for the rarely sung second stanza. Canada’s men are described as the products of a “proud race” who, “under the eyes of God” will protect the “honour of their flag.”

“It is not universalist. It is not multicultural. It is not ‘peace-making,’” read a 2006 post by Ted Byfield, the recently deceased founder of Alberta Report.

“Purely and simply, it’s an old-fashioned Catholic Christian hymn from the days of monarchy.”

Jane Moss, a professor of Canadian Studies at Duke University, has similarly described it as being in keeping with the “ethno-clerical, nationalist fervour of the 19th century.”

And indeed. plenty countries around the world have anthems dating from a more jingoistic era. In France, for one, the famous La Marseillaise talks about killing traitors and soaking the fields with “impure blood.”

As for gendered language - the focus of the recent change to English O Canada - the practice is less noticeable in Francophone O Canada since all of French is gendered to some degree.

Almost all French nouns have been ascribed arbitrary status as a “masculine” or “feminine” word. Thus, O Canada mentions a forehead (male), an arm (male), a cross (female) and valour (female).

However, the song does deftly avoid mentioning whether the figure of Canada itself is a “he” or “she.”

The French O Canada lyrics are the original, however. The song is originally a Francophone tune, and originated as an exclusively French-Canadian anthem at a time when most Anglophones were too busy singing “God Save the Queen” or the “Maple Leaf Forever.”

The Maple Leaf Forever, incidentally, closely matches French O Canada for its 19th century nationalist fervour - albeit with a noticeable pro-Anglo slant.

Over four stanzas, the Maple Leaf Forever celebrates Scots, Irish and Englishmen all banding together to conquer the French and fight off the Americans.

“Our brave fathers, side by side ... firmly stood and nobly died,” it says.

On Wednesday, the Bloc Quebecois abstained from the House of Commons vote on O Canada, on the grounds that since it didn’t deal with the French lyrics, it wasn’t any of their business.

But while the debate over O Canada lyrics has been ongoing for years, French Canada does not appear to care at all about their version.

“To be honest, I don’t recall ever hearing about one instance where someone requested that the [religious references] be removed,” Michel Pion, vice-president of the Association humaniste du Québec, told the National Post in 2013. “I’ve never heard anyone complain about it.”

Part of the reason may be that Quebec, despite its growing secularism, is a bit more accustomed to being surrounded by Christian imagery. There’s still a giant, lighted cross looming over Montreal and a crucifix hung up in the National Assembly.

“History, including language, is much more sacrosanct in Quebec,” said Erin O’Toole, the Conservative MP for Durham. “I don’t think there’s a real willingness to tinker, while it seems to be carte blanche in English Canada.”

There’s also the simple fact that O Canada just isn’t sung as often east of the Ottawa River. Quebecers also have their choice of “Gens Du Pays,” the province’s unofficial national anthem.

Penned in 1975 by songwriter Gilles Vigneault - and soon adopted by the Quebec nationalist movement - the song is intended as a pro-Quebec anthem, but is notably devoid of any swords or overt triumphalism. Instead, Gen du Pays just hints at it being “time to live our hopes.”