Godot

Soyin: where did you get the french lyrics for O Canada? This is what we were taught in Calgary:
O Canada! Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
CHORUS
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Sous l'æil de Dieu, près du fleuve géant,
Le Canadien grandit en espérant.
Il est né d'une race fièere,
Béni fut son berceau,
Le ciel a marqué sa carriére,
Dans ce monde nouveau.

EG: I went through the Catholic System in Calgary (St. Luke's, Madeleine d'Houet, St. Mary's) and feel I received a much better education than that some of my friends procured in the public system. Of course, this may have something to do with going to a strongly academic school too.

Luiseach

As a Canadian, I agree with Soyin's definition of Canadianness and the issue of symbolism here...

Whether or not there is a mention of God in the national anthem takes second place to more important matters, as far as I am concerned...

It's true, patriotism in Canada is not as deeply or widely important as it seems to be in the U.S.A. Or the staunch either/or divide between religion and atheism/agnosticism/freethinking, for that matter. It's slightly different in tone and content. Some Canadians might disagree, of course, which is fair enough. Everybody's experiences and perceptions are different, after all.

Or perhaps patriotism takes a different form north of the border? Not sure. The question of Canadian national identity rarely reaches the level of jingoism, but again I'm not certain as to why this should be.

I'm not 'proud' to be a Canadian, or ashamed....I'm proud to be a free-thinking human being. For me, to be a Canuck is a geographical categorisation, not a mission statement...

An interesting thread. Made me think.

ComestibleVenom

Godless Dave, don't even think about it. The underlying bureaucratic bloat of our government is philosophical in it's roots. Don't expect them to be rid of the totally ineffective gun registry (people prohibited from owning firearms STILL get them, LEGALLY), but expect more massive intrusions into personal property, freedom of expression and, yes of course, your personal earnings.

I don't know about you, but I'm leaving as soon as I've scalped 'em for an education.

ComestibleVenom

As a matter of fact, I can earn a lot more in the US. But that's not why I'm leaving.

I'm leaving because of the values and ideals of Canada. Canadians most value the sacrosant Medicare, the central philosophy of which can be stated thus:

"Either everyone can get a particular medical treatment, or we shall make absolutely sure that nobody gets it at all."

Canada marches towards furthur centralization within an unresponsive yet intrusive federal government, yet again and again we re-elect the same clowns, reward the same (entertaining) behavior. It makes me furious, and I don't damn well think I'm going to try to stop Canadians from getting what they so obviously want.

ps. I don't consider myself a Canadian, I'm an Albertan. I just happen to live in Canada.

KnightWhoSaysNi

Actually, even Alberta is moving towards a more heathen trend. 23% of Albertans answered "no religion" on the 2001 Census. Contrast that with Newfoundland (2%) and Quebec (6%). The overall national percentage was 16%.

2001 Census on religion

But as far as religiousity goes, it's nothing like the U.S. Most people I know who are religious don't know I'm non-religious or they don't care. Even the fundies here are generally not nearly as pushy or "in your face" as their US counterparts. People here tend to get very pissed off if they feel that religion is being pushed on people through political means.

Edit:
Hey, I've noticed there are more Calgary forum members here. We should have a gathering or something.

lpetrich

Canada seems a lot of like Europe and Australia and NZ -- I wonder if we can also add Japan and Taiwan (thanx, Vorkosigan, for Taiwan).

And where are the most Canada-like parts of the US? My guess might be the big cities, especially the northeastern and western ones.

Kintaro

Hey, hey..... A lot of the young generation is atheistic in Quebec or Catholic by association (=atheist in disguise or just doesn'T give a flying fudge)...... and in my case, a hard core atheist who being 17, doesn'T have shit to say in the census, so I got marked as a catholic...... my step-mom sucks.

edit : 18, almost 19 now , i meant it for the 2001 census.

Spaz

I completely agree with that, I find that in America I'm a minority in that thought though.

Walross

No one I know. I've lived in Alberta my entire (32 year) life, and have only ever met 2 fundies. The prairies are more secular than the rest of Canada ever give us credit for.

Walross

Koiyotnik

The O Canada sung at all our hockey games is only verse one of a many-versed song. I'll admit upfront that I only know the first verse too (and with the French version, I only make up sounds, kind of like singing to Pearl Jam), although my friend knows about five of the verses.

Also, wasn't there a movement a few years back to replace "God keep our land" with "O Canada" (once more)?
I've heard it sung that way, at least.

Then there was that big stink about the phrase "and all thy sons command," with feminist lobbying groups saying it was sexist and so forth.