Country Music

The untold story of Canada’s anthem.

- Robert Harris

WE ALL KNOW the feeling. An unexpected constriction in the throat. Heat rising to the face. Tears welling in the corner of our eyes.

We’re responding to “O Canada.”

Maybe we’re watching the Olympics, seeing our ag ascend to the rafters above a pool or velodrome. Maybe we’re in a high school auditorium before a holiday concert, listening to a student band. Or celebrating with people from all over the world as they navigate the anthem minutes after receiving their Canadian citizenship.

“O Canada” touches us when our sense of pride and place and identity connect, and it creates in us a patriotic reaction that can burst out unexpectedly, for no reason—or many.

We are not entirely sure what to make of our patriotism in a modern, ultra-connected, digitally expanded world. And it frightens us when we encounter it too badly. We know from experience that the nationalism that follows patriotic pride can wrench some of the most destructive elements out of the human heart. Nationalism and civility, nationalism and peace, nationalism and reason, are frequently bitter enemies.

Yet there it is—that pride, love, and joy in the community that the anthem brings us.