The Bruce Report

Does it say something about us when the only occasion at which Canada’s national anthem can be played without fear of igniting ideological warfare is a hockey game involving one or more of the Leafs, Habs, Senators, Oilers, Flames, and Canucks?

 

Personally, I like the old tune. And while it probably shouldn’t be incorporated into CBC Radio’s “Obama Playlist”, it beats the hell out of God Save the Queen, a little ditty I was forced to chirp in grade school during those anglophilic years before our nation even had a flag to call its own.

 

In truth, we Canadians do a lousy job brainwashing our impressionable youth with the trappings and rituals of patriotic devotion. In the early 1960s, you may recall, Progressive Conservative Leader John Diefenbaker thought the whole idea of replacing the British ensign with a distinctly Canadian banner was abominable. The Great Flag Debate, as it was known, raged in Parliament for months before the task was finally pushed off to a committee given instructions to generate a suitable design, pronto. “We were given all of six weeks,” its co-creator John Matheson once complained.

 

So, maybe, it should come as no surprise that, every once in a while, a parent worries when his or her child is denied the opportunity to sing O Canada at school. What’s wrong with us, they hector, that we take such a lackadaisical attitude to these symbols of our nationhood? Have we no pride? Have we no purpose?

 

At least, this seems to be the crux of a steamy, little battle shaping up between an incensed mother and one Erik Millet, the principal of Belleisle Elementary School (with a student body of precisely 214) in Springfield, near Sussex. The head master, it seems, elected to dispense with the singing of the national anthem, each morning before the commencement of classes, a couple of years ago. And Susan Boyd is fit to be tied for myriad reasons, not the least of which is that this is the first she’s heard of the decision.

 

“Respect for your country is something that should be instilled at a very young age,” she told the Saint John Telegraph Journal recently, after having been informed by her daughter that the anthem hasn’t been sung regularly at her school in some time. “For years, elementary school students have stopped and stood where they were when they heard O Canada. I’m afraid that will be lost.”

 

Millet, for his part, defends his position that the early morning ritual is offensive to a couple of parents. “Whether it’s for religious or family reasons, this is a public education system,” he said. “It’s secular, and we’re serving the public. Is it right or is it fair for children who are not allowed to sing the anthem to be forced to?”

 

What’s more, he said, “We thought we could give more prominence, more importance to the anthem than playing a taped version over a crackling PA system. I want to be very clear our decision to change the time, location and frequency is to provide an enhanced experience for the students.”

 

Except those, presumably, who are not allowed to participate for the aforementioned “religious or family reasons”.

 

Regardless, the brouhaha has attracted the oh-so-helpful attention of at least one federal cabinet minister, the Honourable Greg Thompson of Veterans Affairs. Apparently, he’s even more outraged than Boyd. “We love our country,” he thundered. “Every child should have the opportunity to participate in the national anthem regularly. It’s important for community leaders and principals to recognize that. This is something every parent should be concerned about.”

 

Really, Mr. Thompson? Should I?

 

As a parent of two adult children, both of whom experienced the dubious delights of a New Brunswick public education, I’m more concerned about the quality of math, science and reading instruction. I’m more concerned about the lack of history, geography and civics courses available to young people. And I’m a darned sight more worried about the pathetically low level of linguistic pedagogy in Canada’s only officially bilingual province than I am about the number of kids who are mumbling the lyrics of a song that wasn’t even the country’s official anthem until 1980.

 

On the other hand, Mr. Millet, what kind of progressive logic ignores the will of the majority? If most parents in your neck of the woods would prefer their kids to sing O Canada before they get down to their A-B-Cs, accommodate them. And as for those few children, whose parents refuse to permit their little darlings to raise their voices high, tell them what my father told me when I complained about God Save the Queen.

 

“If you don’t like it chief, don’t sing it.”

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