The Maple Leaf Forever - Happy Dominion Day!

[Oswulf1]

The singer is surely Edward Johnson, the great Canadian tenor who sang at La Scala and the other great opera houses of Europe.

[seanseanleprechaun]

Thanks so much for putting this up. Our lovely old anthem, I remember singing in grade school. Both m'Grandads, both m' Uncles and m' Dad fought under our Red Ensign. I'll always have a special place in m'heart for that flag, which I bring out and fly every Dominion Day!

[TheGuilbran78]

OMFG this should ve stayed as our anthem it more patriotic

[TheGuilbran78]

@PatchesRips why not sing O Canada and add on a few words and sing it in the maple leaf forever tune

[warior98]

@rctsos

Yes. I'm from Quebec and to be honest, we should have at least 1 more History Class. 1 small class to cover Canadian & Quebec History is simple not enough. IMO, we should have 1 class covering from 1150 to 1867 (From General French + British History to the confederation). One Canadian History class covering 1867-today and one Quebec History class covering 1764 to today.

[PatchesRips]

Nah, the new lyrics are much better than this stuff. Why should I get all misty about a song kissing Britain's ass? I'm not British. I'm Canadian. Thistles, shamrocks... what rubbish.

"Long may it wave, and grace our own blue skies and stormy weather... Within my heart, above my home: the Maple Leaf forever." Now THAT'S Canadian.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips

Well, Canada was once a part of one of the greatest nations in history, and though it is now self-governing, it still shares many cultural, legal, and political similarities or ties with the United Kingdom. Did you know that technically, Canadian citizens are not recognised as foreigners in the UK? This song is about remembering our heritage, as well as remembering our common ties as nations. I am a proud Canadian and see no problem with this song. God Save the Queen

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 I understand what you're saying, but in all reality, you're vastly overstating the case. Yes, I know the UK retains some lingering privileges for Commonwealth citizens who manage to get legal resident there; special categories that don't term some of us "foreign". That's all very nice. But in practical terms, if you don't have the RIGHT to enter a country and remain there WITHOUT PERMISSION, to work there WITHOUT PERMISSION, you're a foreigner, for all intents and purposes.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips That's really not the point I'm making. I'm just highlighting the fact that ALL Canadians, when in the UK, even if it is just to visit, are not recognized as foreign citizens, even though it has no practical purpose or application, still is a demonstration of the closeness between our two nations and really the commonwealth as a whole. The song is a celebration of our closeness. Though we have drifted apart in recent years - it doesn't change the fact that we were great together.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 The song is NOT a "celebration of our closeness"; the British don't sing it, for one thing. It's an ethnocentric hymn to the conquest of an entire people, period. It has nothing of value to offer Canadians of non-British descent, and it certainly celebrates NOTHING as far as Canadians of French descent are concerned. It's about making WASPs feel superior, plain and simple. The old lyrics well and truly belong on the scrapheap.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips By your argument, it's not a Canadian song as we don't sing it either. Many British do listen to it, and there are recordings of Scottish pipe bands playing it as a traditional song. i don't see how it has nothing to offer to Canadians of other ethnic backgrounds, as it is a celebration of Canadian History and heritage. Being Canadian means accepting out history and rejoicing in our successes. That is what this song is about - not discrimination against non-WASPs.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "Many British do listen to it"

A lot of them listen to ABBA sing about "Waterloo", too. It doesn't make them Swedish, or Swedes Brits.

"rejoicing in our successes"

Do you get that for upwards of a quarter of this nation, what you're "rejoicing" in is anything but a "success"? Would you particularly love it if Canadians of German descent sang proudly of how other Canadians got their asses kicked at Dieppe? Would you say, "Oh, it's okay,it was a SUCCESS!" I don't think I would.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips I don't know what to make of your first point. My point was simply in response to your saying that the British do not listen to this song. They do.

Your using Dieppe as an example is completely illogical and inapplicable. Why would Canadians sing about defeating Canadians? Canadians of German descent are Canadians. There would be no reason for them to sing of a German Victory. This song is about Canadian victories, achievements and history, which is why it is sung.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "Why would Canadians sing about defeating Canadians?"

Now that is a really good question, one I hoped you'd ask IF you didn't think about it long enough. Why WOULD Canadians sing about defeating other Canadians -- as in blowing a lot of imperial balloon juice about Wolfe sticking the Union Jack in what had been, for 200 years by then, New France? Why would they, if they really gave a damn? You tell me.

See, THAT'S why I'm a fan of the new lyrics. That very question of yours.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips Your logic is once again flawed. The Governing body that would later become Canada was not New France. New France was separate. It could be said that only through the victory did those living in modern day Quebec become Canadian. Before Wolfe won, people living in New France were French, and if New France had not been defeated, would never have become part of Canada. The song is about the history of Canada, a part of which was the French losing.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "The Governing body that would later become Canada was not New France."

Your understanding of Canadian history and the Constitution is lacking. New France was a polity and administration assumed by the British: for example, most of what is now the province of Ontario is granted title by treaties concluded by the French prior to the French and Indian War. If the break you suggest were actual, the British would have had to negotiate those treaties all over again. They didn't.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips .... I think you misunderstood me. I was simply saying that the french controlled 'Canada' would not become Canada today but rather the British controlled 'Canada' would evolved to become Canada, if that makes sense.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "It could be said that only through the victory did those living in modern day Quebec become Canadian."

This HUGELY ignorant. The British, including the American colonists, recognized "Canada" and "Canadians" LONG before the conquest, meaning that portion of New France now comprising southern Quebec and Ontario, and what became much of the US Midwest.

"if New France had not been defeated, would never have become part of Canada"

It already WAS Canada, by name, before then.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips Yes, but it was not the State of Canada as it is recognised today. The current State of Canada evolved from the British Colony that was set up in North America. Not what is called Canada, or Canadian, but the actual country of Canada, with its legal and political systems evolved from the British Colony, so what I'm attempting to say is that though the might still have referred to themselves as Canadian, it would be a fundamentally different Canada.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "he current State of Canada evolved from the British Colony"

This is akin to saying you evolved from a 16-year-old with a learner's permit. It's an utterly arbitrary point that ignores all the came before and simply picks a convenient point of departure. I've already told you you're wrong, and if you live in most of Ontario south of the French River, you do so on the basis of title ceded to the French administration of this land, NOT the British.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "but the actual country of Canada"

Well then you're talking about 1867, or even arguably 1931; not 1759. You're doing nothing but pulling dates out of a hat to avoid admitting what I've already demonstrated: Canada is older than you are comfortable admitting, its roots aren't British, and its Constitution preserves elements that predate the British administration, and were adopted by it.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips ???

When I refer to the state of Canada, I mean our current legal and political system, which works in tandem to form the framework of a nation. This framework is completely and inarguably British.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "This framework is completely and inarguably British."

Really?

Where is the federal system in Britain?

Where is their written constitution?

How many senators does Britain have?

How many official languages does Britain have, and what are they?

Where are lords in Canada? Knights, barons, counts? The established church of Canada?

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips

Britain has no federal system?

Britain has no constitution?

How do senators serve a politically different function from lords? Why do the use the same colours?

The framework has nothing to do with the language?

Neither does the religion?

There was never a feudal system in Canada, but the existence of an aristocracy is also not relevant?

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 Nope.

Not written; nothing Parliament can't amend as mere acts of legislation.

They certainly did when the Senate was established; it was no House of Lords, either in composition or powers.

Au contraire; in Canada, it's a constitutional matter, and has been from the start.

Au contraire; in Britain, offices of C of E are a matter of public policy. Nothing like that in our system.

John Graves Simcoe did indeed intend there to be one; the American Loyalists would not have it.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips

Erm... okay...

None of those other that the senate are at all related to the political system of the country.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 All of them are instances in which this country is NOT governed on British principles, but on the experience of others either within Canada or around us. That's why I chose them. If you knew anything about the Constitution and Canadian history, you wouldn't have given me the opening you did in the first place.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips I never said anything about British principles. I said British structure. Quite a significant difference, as we have many different principles.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "I said British structure. "

Yeah, House of Lords, peerage, established church, unwritten constitution, unitary state... big parts of the British structure. Absent from the Canadian.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips Hmmmm.....

Well, the established Church is somewhat irrelevant, as is the peerage. The House of lords is now essentially identical to the senate.

In terms of day to day functionality we're still quite similar though. And drastically different from the French system.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "Well, the established Church is somewhat irrelevant, as is the peerage"

Why? Because they disprove what you're saying?

Canada has a number of institutions and principles in common with Britain. True. But to purport, as you do, that "British heritage" is some blanket to be thrown down over the entire bed is an absurdity.

[ccAshercc]

@PatchesRips House of lords = the Senate. We have both written and unwritten constitutional elements, as does Britain now. We have a Westminster Parliamentary style government with the same adopted Common laws. Remember that our highest court until 1949 was the JCPC and our constitution was only written in 1982. Our Head of State, like Britain is Her Majesty the Queen. Each of our Federal legislatures is mirrored off a British style governing system. In essence our entire governing structure.

[PatchesRips]

@ccAshercc I pretty much said the same thing, in not so many words, in my previous comment. The irony of evoking our "federal" system when you speak of "in essence our entire governing structure", when Britain has no such structure to have inspired ours, seems to have escaped you. If we were strict in following British precedents, we would be a unitary state, not a federal one.

(cont'd)

[PatchesRips]

@ccAshercc (cont'd)

Furthermore, our constitution was not "only written in 1982". It was drafted in November, 1866 and given the force of law in 1867; what happened in 1982 was that it was amended by the British to enable Canada to "patriate" it (by which is meant "take responsibility for thing and make our own changes to it in future rather than bothering another country to do it for us"), and that a schedule of rights (the Charter) was simultaneously enshrined in it.

[Alex911TheCanadian]

@PatchesRips You sir, have you facts biased and contorted. The patriation of the Constitution was to grant Canada "Political Independence from Great Britain". You are suggesting that Britain wanted us to do this so that it would be an other nuisance off their back. For this reason, I must disagree to your statement.

[PatchesRips]

@Alex911TheCanadian "You are suggesting that Britain wanted us to do this"

They did, as early as the 1920s. It had nothing to do with having power over Canada, and everything to do with having a former colony get its act together and start taking responsibility for coming up with a way mutually acceptable to the feds and the provinces to amend the thing. That was all that was holding it up.

(cont'd)

[PatchesRips]

@Alex911TheCanadian (cont'd) Until 1982, anytime Canada wanted to change so much as a comma in the BNA Act, it wound up taking up time on the dockets of the British Parliament, who had their own business to worry about. There were DOZENS of pre-1982 amendments; it was a needless pain in their ass. It was a lot like having a middle aged son who'd come home ever time he needed his shoes tied because he couldn't be bothered to learn how. They were happy to get rid of the thing.

[PatchesRips]

@Alex911TheCanadian And just to be clear: I never said that the principal motivation for Canadians patriating the Constitution was at Britain's insistence. Obviously, we had our own reasons for doing so. What I am saying is that when we FINALLY did, the British were glad to see the back of the thing.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 For example:

"The good Time is at Length arrived, when we may retrieve the Mistakes we have committed in the Conduct of the present War. We have endeavoured at an immense Charge, only to lop the Branches, without laying Ax to the Root of the Tree. A united and vigorous Attempt upon Canada has been long desir'd and expected, as the best Method to decide the Contest between us and our persidious Enemies. . . . Canada must be destroyed."

Boston Gazette, March 29, 1758

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips For Example:

The New France 'Canada' would not have had the same apolitical neutral leader structure we enjoy.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 How do you know what governing structures a Canada that Wolfe didn't plant his flag on would or wouldn't have evolved?

Regardless, my point was, and is, that the old lyrics are obnoxious to French Canadians and their ethnocentricity relegate Canadians of other backgrounds to an effectively second-rate status. The new lyrics rescue the tune by endowing it with sentiments embraceable by essentially ALL Canadians.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips Well, extrapolating from the fact that France became a presidential republic...

The old lyrics are not obnoxious, unless you're looking for them to be. It's nothing like the Chinese national anthem, or the French.

Sure, being ethnically neutral is better and makes everyone feel good. But in doing so, we tend to brush over our heritage. ALL Canadians should be able to embrace our history and heritage, loyalty to the Queen, Success in the war of 1812, and our British roots.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "ALL Canadians should be able to embrace our history and heritage, loyalty to the Queen, Success in the war of 1812, and our British roots."

Why?

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips Your History ultimately defines who you are. Not knowing it would seem to be ridiculous. What is a nation if not its accomplishments and failures?

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "Your History...defines who you are. Not knowing it would seem to be ridiculous."

There's a huge difference between explaining in history class that Canada passed from French to British administration in 1759 and singing "patriotic" songs about it, just as there's a huge difference between discussing the slave legacy of the United States and roaming around singing, "Oh, darkies, how my heart grows weary far from the old folks at home", as Stephen Foster originally penned it.

[SplinterCelll38]

@PatchesRips Well, I again hasten to point out that the song covers other areas of Canadian history as well. I'm not familiar with the example, so I can't comment on it, but in the case of this song, they both seem equally valid.

[PatchesRips]

@SplinterCelll38 "They do."

They don't. Not one in a hundred even knows it exists. Hardly more CANADIANS do, these days.

[pteJames]

Now this is the True Maple leaf forever! God save the Queen and God Bless Canada!

[Obasiliasfilosofos]

2:02 Queen Liz was gorgeous in your youth.

[mottledbrain]

Happy Dominion Day!

That sounds so much better than 'Canada Day'. It rolls off the tongue. And what other country celebrates "--name of country-- Day"?

[PatchesRips]

@mottledbrain What other country celebrates "-- name of supermarket chain --" Day?

[Davewulf]

Damn I wish This was our national Anthem But at the same time It's almost a subtle slap to the french canadians but eh Spoils to the Conquering hero?

[artman479]

god bless canada ! from the uk

[adamrep128]

if we Brits have one friend in this World, its you Canadians. this is the true National Anthem of Canada as far as i'm concerned.

God Save The Queen, and Long Live the Commonwealth

[asskickertom]

What about Australia.

[slb122064]

THE TRUE CANADIAN ANTHEM!

[spiritualcat]

I like this version. Who is the singer???

[MasonicEyes]

In god is my trust

NO SURRENDER

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

[mgayford]

I didn't know Muir was an Orangeman. The fact that he was part of a sectarian organization like that actually makes the song less appealing to me, but as a Canadian and a secularist I can still enjoy it. I'm just glad that our first PM and many of his comrades and successors chose to belong to a less divisive fraternal organization.

[orangemike1690]

Our first PM, Sir John A. Macdonald was a member of the Orange Order along with fellow Prime Ministers; John Abbott, Mackenzie Bowell and John Diefenbaker. Orangemen made Canada what it is today and is not sectarian, its a Pro-Protestant organization who believe in the British Crown. Equality to all, Special privillage to none. Alot of good had come from the Orange Order and the charitable works it does, its not what the media protrays it as at all.

[mgayford]

I'll agree the media portrays it unfairly in its Canadian context, but it is a sectarian organization, 'pro-Protestant,' as evinced by your own words. Its members caused just as much damage in Ulster as its Catholic counterparts have and I despise both sides of any religious conflict. You are correct about Sir John A. MacDonald. I assumed because he was also a Freemason he would not be an Orangeman as well, as the stances of the two groups on religion oppose each other to a certain degree.

[BraveMuslimSoldier49]

@orangemike1690 Honestly do you think the Anglican Church is Protestant ? Just look at the vestments their priests wear , plus they have many Catholic rituals.

[mottledbrain]

@BraveMuslimSoldier49 The Anglican Ecclesial Community is definitely protestant. Vestments and rituals don't change the fact that the "church of England" broke away from the Church and lost Apostolic Succession in the process. They cannot even agree on Transubstantiation.

[BraveMuslimSoldier49]

@mottledbrain Most High Church Anglicans beliefs are closer to Catholicism than to Presbyteriansim. Vestments , rituals , statutaries of Jesus and the Virgin are all Catholic and they matter immensely. A non-Christian person cannot make out the difference between an Anglican Cathedral and a Catholic one , but they can easily spot a Methodist, Baptist or Presbyterian one. Although Anglicans in the US are generally more "Calvinized".

[pteJames]

@orangemike1690 God Bless Us Orange Men!

[PatchesRips]

@orangemike1690 "Orangemen made Canada what it is today"

Orangemen made Canada what it was in World War I: parochial, deferential to Britain, and xenophobic. After World War II, their numbers declined sharply as Protestant like my granddad stayed away from it in embarrassed droves. Leslie Saunders shooting his mouth off about the Battle of the Boyne was what drove Torontonians to elect Nathan Phillips, their first Jewish mayor. Nobody wanted to hear that crap anymore. And THAT was 60 years ago.

[peacerider8]

are you actually saying you dont like this song as much because Muir was Protestant? -_-

[pteJames]

@mgayford What are you talking about alot of Canadian are still Orange Men!

[canuckleful]

I would love this guy's voice if it weren't for the arrrrrrres.

[marklavar]

And don't forget South Africa, which was sadly surrendered to rule by barbarians.

[rje888]

Fantastic video, Gog bless our Queen and all the people of the British Commonwealth across the world.

[CommonwealthCanadian]

The Commonwealth family does exist, a couple years ago

I visited the FIND A GRAVE website, where one could leave

electronic messages, gifts, eetc to famous or infamous

people of history.

I left a message for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, marking the anniversary of her MAY 24th (1819) birthday, leaving a Canadian Red Ensign flag.

Unknown to me, an Australian was remembering Queen Victoria too, touched by my words, wrote to me and we became British Commonwealth Cousins now 2yr.

[CommonwealthCanadian]

It is so true that there exists, even if just a flicker, or smolding

fire, sparks for heritage can be entwined with the present age

[91amp]

the thisle shamrock rose intwined THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER ! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN AND LONG MAY SHE REIGN!

[SplinterCelll38]

@91amp Erm. It's entwine.

GSTQ

[PrenticeBoy1688]

God Save the Queen and NO SURRENDER

-A US Apprentice Boy

[324wilson]

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!!!