Selene Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Ô 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. Et ta valeur, de foi trempée, Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.As an occasion of national significance, Canada Day is celebrated with great delight and national pride. Canada Day festivities include parades, firework displays, summer picnics and a whole host of other fun activities enjoyed by every Canadian citizen.Canada DayBest wishes Canada!Adam Edited June 30, 2011 by Selene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Ô 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. Et ta valeur, de foi trempée, Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.As an occasion of national significance, Canada Day is celebrated with great delight and national pride. Canada Day festivities include parades, firework displays, summer picnics and a whole host of other fun activities enjoyed by every Canadian citizen.Canada DayBest wishes Canada!AdamMille remerciements, cher ami.As is obvious to anyone with a cursory knowledge of French, this version is not a translation of the English lyric but a whole different narrative.There was a great parody in the old Frank magazine - a mangled attempt by the then Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, to translate the French words in a hurry. I wish I'd kept it. I remember one part -lines 3-4:"If you get in a sword fight with me, you better cross yourself!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9thdoctor Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 http://www.neilrogers.com/sounds/bonr1999/35.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syrakusos Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Commonwealth Day, OK. Dominion Day, I'll give them that. But "Independence" Day? Who was the Queen of Canada on June 30, 1867?Who was the Queen of Canada on July 2, 1867?Who is the Queen of Canada today?Churchill joked that Americans and British are two people separated by a common language. Take "independence" for example.Have you ever read McKenzie's original "Bill of Rights"? Except in times of emergency, the government shall not...I dunno...(OK, I was going to paste in a YouTube clip of Wierd Al Yankovic's "Canadian Idiot" but... On one, the line about exporting snow and maple syrup showed a bottle of Whole Foods 365-brand syrup. On another the line about beer-swilling hockey nuts shows a fight between a Bruin and a Ranger - and the beer is Budweiser. ... and as a numismatist, I have to say that it is the USA, not Canada, that has "stupid Monopoly money." Theirs is cool. I'll cut Britain's biggest colony some slack.) The lyrics were originally in French and translated into English. I don't know about my cousin Lucie, though... Edited June 30, 2011 by Michael E. Marotta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Commonwealth Day, OK. Dominion Day, I'll give them that. But "Independence" Day? Who was the Queen of Canada on June 30, 1867?Who was the Queen of Canada on July 2, 1867?Who is the Queen of Canada today?Churchill joked that Americans and British are two people separated by a common language. Take "independence" for example.Have you ever read McKenzie's original "Bill of Rights"? Except in times of emergency, the government shall not...I dunno...(OK, I was going to paste in a YouTube clip of Wierd Al Yankovic's "Canadian Idiot" but... One one, the line about exporting snow and maple syrup showed a bottle of Whole Foods 365-brand syrup. On another the line about beer-swilling hockey nuts shows a fight between a Bruin and a Ranger - and the beer is Budweiser. ... and as a numismatist, I have to say that it is the USA, not Canada, that has "stupid Monopoly money." Theirs is cool. I'll cut Britain's biggest colony some slack.)You're right. We did not have an "Independence Day", since we had in the essential ways been independent before the country was incorporated.We were Canadians, with an intense territorial patriotism, before our otherness was acknowledged by the mother country. We have remained pretty much the same as we have grown, fought, and evolved, while maintaining a mainly symbolic relationship with silly old Ma and Mere.Conversely to you, we proclaimed not Independence but Confederation. We fought for freedom to, not freedom from. We're the pragmatic contented collectivists of North America; you are the brilliant, clamouring, anguished idealists of liberty; and as to Mexico, ay de mi.Long may we share the continent, somehow. For our part we promise never to set fire to the White House again. Can't answer for those loco Mexicans though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 BOMB CANADA!!!--Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Carol,I've been thinking of Canada as the Switzerland of the Americas, but that is no doubt exaggerated.Ride our punches, slip our slurs, and keep in mind the envy I for one feel for a country that gets things mostly right without appearing to try.Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaalChatzaf Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Ô 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. Et ta valeur, de foi trempée, Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.As an occasion of national significance, Canada Day is celebrated with great delight and national pride. Canada Day festivities include parades, firework displays, summer picnics and a whole host of other fun activities enjoyed by every Canadian citizen.Canada DayBest wishes Canada!AdamAux Canada! The Kinder, Gentler America.If Canada did not already exist we would have to invent her.Ba'al Chatzaf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Carol,I've been thinking of Canada as the Switzerland of the Americas, but that is no doubt exaggerated.Ride our punches, slip our slurs, and keep in mind the envy I for one feel for a country that gets things mostly right without appearing to try.TonyTony, you are so eerily right. I am so entirely, quintesentially Canadian. I have always felt, basically, lucky. I have got the things I wanted and needed most in life, not from conscious focused choice, but from unthinking rejection of what I did not want. Outside my little life was my country, my nanny state, which let me do whatever the hell I wanted as long as I didn't frighten the Mountie horses. Pretty much like my real nanny, and mama come to that.Being born in a lucky time and place is an unbelievable blessing,which I have had. Overcoming lesser luck is a great achievement. To you Tony. and others who know what I mean,life is long and the world is wide. All are glorious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthony Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) Carol,I've been thinking of Canada as the Switzerland of the Americas, but that is no doubt exaggerated.Ride our punches, slip our slurs, and keep in mind the envy I for one feel for a country that gets things mostly right without appearing to try.TonyTony, you are so eerily right. I am so entirely, quintesentially Canadian. I have always felt, basically, lucky. I have got the things I wanted and needed most in life, not from conscious focused choice, but from unthinking rejection of what I did not want. Outside my little life was my country, my nanny state, which let me do whatever the hell I wanted as long as I didn't frighten the Mountie horses. Pretty much like my real nanny, and mama come to that.Being born in a lucky time and place is an unbelievable blessing,which I have had. Overcoming lesser luck is a great achievement. To you Tony. and others who know what I mean,life is long and the world is wide. All are glorious.I like a girl who will "only dance with the one who brung her." Happy Independence Day, Canada. Edited June 30, 2011 by whYNOT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 You won't get much intelligence out of me until after tomorrow, what with the Royal Visit!All clothes. all the time! I have not cared much about my own clothes since, well, I got married.but I am as interested in rich peoples' clothes as anybody else.I have enjoyed the official itinerariy. Love the "rest" times thoughtfully provided for the newlywed couple. Love the way our Governor General (of whom I'm a huge fan) greeted them: "welcome to the honeymoon capital of the Commonwealth"!I do not wish to presume but I think the message is, get pregnant in Canada or die trying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Everytime he said goodbye, he saluted his bandsman and his brother, and took no bows for himself. He sang with joy for himself, and for what loved, his whole life long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) The previous post seems to have escaped from its proper thread - it's abut Stan Rogers, not Gov-Gen. Johnston.Sorry to be more confusingthan usual.No more Canada Day coolers for me. Edited July 1, 2011 by daunce lynam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 (edited) and so on. Edited June 30, 2011 by daunce lynam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william.scherk Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 (edited) I liked Adam's neighbourly note on our national day off, and enjoyed MEM's cheerful ribbing about nomenclature. I also appreciate Brad's more-than-neighbourly lobbing birthday wishes northward.My first naive patriotic thrill came at age eight, when a 'Centennial Train' rolled into my town of Prince Rupert. This was the first time I felt a pride in the abstract Canada, a mythic peaceful nation composed of adventurous French and adventurous Scots English and adventurous tribal first nations. The first lyrics of O Canada, in French, are still a thrill. "Terre de nos aïeux" means 'land of our ancestors.' This was the ancient spine of the Canadian+Canadien identity that is so difficult to explain to outsiders, the deep roots and settled societies that came with european settlement of Quebec upon its founding in 1608.**My favourite emotional part of Canada Day celebrations are the citizenship ceremonies, where new Canadians are sworn in. It is almost exactly similar to American citizenship ceremonies, and I know that our US friends here can understand that we might feel an almost exactly similar pleasure when our new adherents join the club!We were Canadians, with an intense territorial patriotism, before our otherness was acknowledged by the mother country. We have remained pretty much the same as we have grown, fought, and evolved, while maintaining a mainly symbolic relationship with silly old Ma and Mere.For those Americans ever puzzled by Canada, it is best to think about the French-ness shot through our history and institutions. We are yes, pragmatic -- as pragmatism saved death and destruction for the French as they were conquered. We are collectivists indeed, since our nation cannot proceed without thinking of the all, of the us, of the we. And we may seek content, but it is the contentment of a peaceable, caring and welcoming hearth. The strong urge to live in peace together is what keeps us all safe against most of the horrors of the world to this day . . . To my American chums, I wish you an exuberant celebration on your national day. You have much to celebrate and treasure. Happy Fourth, y'all! May you prosper.___________** a poll in the monthly magazine L'Actualité back in 1989 was called 'Le Canada dans le peau.' The cover showed a tank-topped torso with nationalist Quebec logo, a Canada tattoo on his shoulder. Inside the poll details showed one odd outlier. Generally, the respondents were lukewarm to an independent Quebec, except under certain circumstances -- Quebecers polled would vote independence in 90% if and only if the independent nation got to 'keep' parts of the former nation: its name, its symbols, its anthem . . . You read that right: A vast majority of Quebecers would have voted for a maple-leaved, beaver-laden, terre de nos aïeux, separate nation called . . . Canada. Edited July 1, 2011 by william.scherk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syrakusos Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 For they looked in the future and what did they seeThey saw an iron road runnin' from sea to the seaBringin' the goods to a young growin' landAll up through the seaports and into their hands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 (edited) BOMB CANADA!!!--BrantBOMB BRANT!!!--Canada Edited July 1, 2011 by daunce lynam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 BOMB CANADA!!!--BrantBOMB BRANT!!!--CanadaBryant University 1150 Douglas Pike Smithfield, RI 02917 Dear Canadian Warmonger:This Cease and Desist Letter places you on notice!Peace!Out!Signed in Bold so you will obey! Hon. José-Marie Griffiths, Ph.D. Vice President for Academic Affairs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 BOMB CANADA!!!--BrantBOMB BRANT!!!--CanadaBryant University 1150 Douglas Pike Smithfield, RI 02917 Dear Canadian Warmonger:This Cease and Desist Letter places you on notice!Peace!Out!Signed in Bold so you will obey! Hon. José-Marie Griffiths, Ph.D. Vice President for Academic Affairs Dear American Nosey Parker,Ooooh, a lawyer's letter, I'm a-scairt! I do not take instructions from anybody except the Grand Shaman and sometimes Nanook, and you can't make me cease and desist from not taking them, you ivory tower bubblebrain.I shall forward your laughable communication to my Attorney for American Affairs, Clueless ("Wrong-way") O'Connigan of Atlantis, Iowa, who is a pretty good joke in himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 It is a pleasure to set up a great hitter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 It is a pleasure to set up a great hitter!The pleasure is mutual. Remember, there's no "me" in t-e-a-m! Well, there isn't the way some people spell it. Nevermind.I am watching the Will & Kate show. OMG,Greatest. Hat. Ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
william.scherk Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 My favourite emotional part of Canada Day celebrations are the citizenship ceremonies, where new Canadians are sworn in. It is almost exactly similar to American citizenship ceremonies, and I know that our US friends here can understand that we might feel an almost exactly similar pleasure when our new adherents join the club!And, sure enough, the citizenship ceremony was central to the royal itinerary today. I quote from the Guardian's Canadiana story and repost their photo of the duchess with her scarlet maple leaf hat . . . I love the ascerbic antiroyalism of the article. Carol Jane, I can only imagine the festival of festivity in your soul today, on Royal Socialist Federated Canuckistan's birthday, attended by tomorrow's king and queen! Me, I just enjoy the sombre pageantry of new Canuckis getting their tickets punched. -- and, heck, why not a video of the royal escalator into the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, wherein the inevitable Franco-Scots-Afghan pipes screel in the visiting Brits. It's got a Mountie singing God Save The Queen, totem poles, our canucki flags, red stilettos and a mixed lot of newcomers hearing "Félicitations. Vous êtes maintenant les citoyens de Canada." There were Chinese, Cubans, French, Greeks, Haitians, Romanians and even Madagascan residents swearing an oath of allegiance to his grandmother and to him as one of her heirs and successors, yet if anyone noticed the irony, they did not care to mention it.The prince, with his wife, Duchess Kate, beside him, was guest of honour on Canada Day in Ottawa and tens of thousands turned out to cheer and whoop.From early morning a sea of red and white converged in front of the country's parliament. On what was to become a hot and nearly cloudless day Canadians trudged towards the site, most wearing the national colours, many carrying maple leaf flags in their hair or on their baseball caps or T-shirts.Canadians may be God's doughty people and while they were stoically out to enjoy themselves they carried macs, just in case.Across the river, outside the Canadian Museum of Civilization, an appropriate place for the citizenship ceremony in this most civilised nation, there was the first demonstrator of the tour. Dressed in a bear costume and bearing a motto "Bearskins look better on bears", she didn't seem to mind being ignored.Inside the museum's hall, lined with giant totem poles, mounties genially posed for photographs with the new citizens while the Canadian air force's string quartet gently strummed the theme from Desert Island Discs like a palm court orchestra – a strange choice as desert islands are one thing Canada lacks. On television screens more characteristic scenes were shown, most of them seemingly including snow.Two of the new citizens, Romanians Adrian and Florentina Uzea, cradling their baby daughter, Stephanie, were explaining their choice. Both agricultural economists – Adrian now works for the national organisation of broiler chicken farmers – they had decided Canada was a safer place to raise their daughter, though they retain their old nationality as well just in case there is a roasting in the Canadian poultry sector."In Romania when you decide to have kids you have to think twice, but here you know you can support your family," said Florentina. Looking round, she added: "This is better than I expected … and yes, it is a thrill. We didn't know the prince would be here until recently.""It's appropriate," chipped in her husband. "Canada was a dominion of Britain, which makes it more special."Ceremonies were taking place across the country, from Gander to Whitehorse, the governor general said, swearing in maybe 150,000 new citizens, but only Ottawa had a prince to watch.And soon he was among them, grinning his diffident chipmunk smile, with his wife, a striking vision in white and red, beside him. Her costume, by the Montreal-born designer Erdem Moralioglu, was apparently the one chosen for her engagement photographs by Mario Testino last year – waste not want not, though hardly an austerity drive. It was topped by a small scarlet cross between a hat and a fascinator crowned with maple leaves and tailed by equally scarlet stilettos.Dutifully, the couple waited while the governor general, David Johnston, read out the oath of citizenship – first in French – leading the new citizens as they murmured allegiance to Sa Majesté la Reine Elizabeth Deux; and then in English, louder, just to make sure."We are grateful you have chosen Canada," he said as if they had taken out a life insurance policy, which in a way some probably had. It was a gentle invitation, he said, echoing words of the Queen. Then: "Do your best for Canada." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted July 1, 2011 Author Share Posted July 1, 2011 There were Chinese, Cubans, French, Greeks, Haitians, Romanians and even Madagascan residents swearing an oath of allegiance to his grandmother and to him as one of her heirs and successors, yet if anyone noticed the irony, they did not care to mention it.Beautiful Duchess!Was there some special Canadian protocol for all the Greeks to be in the first row? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 There were Chinese, Cubans, French, Greeks, Haitians, Romanians and even Madagascan residents swearing an oath of allegiance to his grandmother and to him as one of her heirs and successors, yet if anyone noticed the irony, they did not care to mention it.Beautiful Duchess!Was there some special Canadian protocol for all the Greeks to be in the first row? Protocol? They're Canadian Greeks! They will sit in whatever row they want.Carollongtime Danforth resident(the Greeks own all the rows and have long leases on the aisles in these parts) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caroljane Posted July 2, 2011 Share Posted July 2, 2011 Guys,I have so loved today.The citizenship ceremony, as it always does, moves me beyond myself. It is not just a matter of moving here and signing some papers, to become Canadian. There is a test to write, which is not that easy; most native-born Canadians could not pass it. I have taught citizenship classes and seen how newcomers struggle, not just to get the right answers but to really understand, how truly different this country is from the one they have left.Before that there is the time of waiting, of decision, of anguished or terrified orcalculated leavetaking of everything they know and the elder loved ones who truly know them.Some who I know suffered worse; entire bereavement, jail, torture.As their resilience and practicality and humanity have buoyed me up in the years I have been privileged to welcome and teach them, so will they buoy up our country with their universe of knowledge and experience and skills, and their wonderful children, who are now ours.July 1, 1984 is the most shining ceremony in my memory. It was my husband's, he had waited until we had our second child, so that the boys might have the option of British citizenship if they wanted later.His sister and her husband had come over from Scotland, my favourite people.Arthur ("the shortest cop on the Glasgow police force")was something like Rumpole of the Bailey. Mary...well, my husband's great pickup line when we first met was, "You really remind me of my sister." The baby didn't cry once. The photos with the judge and the Mountie were great. I wouldn't trade that day, for all the fascinators in Cambridge, Ontario or England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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