Singing ‘O’ Canada in schools should be a choice: Ontario Regional Chief Hare

Should students still have to sing 'O' Canada in classrooms?

It’s a question Lili Miller, member of Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB)’s Indigenous Education Advisory Council, posed at a meeting earlier this week.

In her remarks, Miller explained that singing the national anthem is “distasteful” and should be replaced with something more “healthy and positive.”

It’s not a new discussion, but it was a comment that caught the attention of Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare.

“In all my short years I went to school, that was a practice every day; we have choices but I think we should get some direction from the veterans,” Hare, who is a M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island, told The Sam Laprade Show on Thursday, November 11.

“We’re here for Canada, and that’s what the veterans fought for. Myself, I’m with it, I have no objections about it, but again it’s a choice — maybe if they don’t want to stand up, they can sit down, but this is what our veterans fought for: freedom of speech and freedom in our country. It should be up to them. But for myself, I still [stand] for 'O' Canada.”

Following Miller’s remarks, the OCDSB posted a statement, outlining that the singing of the national anthem is provincially mandated, but students are not forced to participate in the daily morning tradition.

“There is an 'O' Canada written in our language. Maybe if they sung that side-by-side with 'O' Canada in English, we can do that,” Hare suggested. “Maybe that could be included in the curriculum along with the education of First Nations.”

He added, “Maybe take that next step and find out where they can get that language of 'O' Canada and sing it in the school because it belongs in the school.”

According to the Canadian government, 'O' Canada was originally written in French, then translated to English in 1906 and only recently translated to Inuktitut.