I smell another rant – 3

So I was recently asked my opinion on the following article:

Bruce Allen is on the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Committee and new Canadians (specifically Hindi’s/Indian’s) want him fired for his recent comments outlined below:

I am sorry, but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Hindi at the 2010 Olympics- enough is enough. Nowhere or at no other time in our Nation’s history, did they sing it in Italian, Japanese, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German, Portuguese, Greek, or any other language  because of immigration. It was written in English, adapted into French, and should be sung  word for word the way it was written.


The news broadcasts even gave the Hindi version translation - which was not even close to our National Anthem I am not the least bit sorry if this offends ANYONE, this is MY COUNTRY; My Grand Dad served in the military, other family members also served, as well as my wife & I served a combined total of 56 years between us. We made many sacrifices for our country and do not feel we should feel obligated to allow invited people we’ve welcomed with open arms to influence & change our society to better resemble the one they chose to leave to come here!!! - IF YOU AGREE ABOUT THIS GREAT COUNTRY, SPEAK UP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE



I am not against immigration. In fact I believe we need more, my ancestors were immigrants – just come through like everyone else. Get a sponsor; a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes, live by the Rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other immigrants have in the past — and LONG LIVE CANADA!’



Well, I agree and disagree. Let’s discuss the anthem part first. You’re in Canada, you sing the Canadian Anthem. PERIOD. You don’t get to change the words. You don’t get to change the song. If you don’t feel patriotic, then don’t sing. Our country is full of immigrants. It is what it is. We adapt to all sorts of different aspects of life, but the anthem is our own. The anthem is to be sung in our national language. We have two national languages and we all know how to sing the anthem in both.



You could travel Canada from coast to coast and introduce yourself to everyone in the country. You will come across every single language, possibly every dialect as well. But our national languages are still English and French. So even though there are classes and schools for different languages, and many feel inclined to learn these languages, we are not about to change the anthem. Honestly, if we do it for one language, we have to do it for the rest. We already know our anthem in two languages, how many other countries can say the same? Perhaps there are plenty. But how many other countries have taken to singing other anthems? Defeats the purpose if you ask me.


If we’re going to learn the anthems of all countries and all languages and sing them all in Canada, we should also learn to write them in different languages as well.


Does anyone want to learn how to sing the anthem in wingdings? It’s all the new rage.


Oh Canada. We stand on guard for thee. This is sung “flag, squiggly lines, thumbs up, Cancer sign, SQUARE (note this SQUARE is different from lower case square which is the hollow one), Cancer sign, Libra sign…”


This is quite difficult to keep in tune, but who are we kidding, wingdings doesn’t need to be sung in tune. Ridiculous? Of course it is. But so is singing the anthem to a country you’re not even in.


Now for my disagreement. Sure I like immigrants. The more the merrier. But the process just isn’t as simple as “get a sponsor, get a job.” My husband is a ‘visitor’ to Canada. This means he doesn’t even qualify as immigrant. My sponsorship was approved two years ago, but yet the immigration process is still in the works. People are welcome to migrate to Canada from any country, but my husband isn’t from any country – he’s from the UK. The UK and Canada fall under the same common wealth government. Doesn’t that mean anything? You’d think if we all follow the same general rules, migration would be easy. But alas, this is certainly is NOT the case.


My husband has lived in this country for over two years waiting for the immigration process to come to it’s fruition, and he already speaks the national language. I want to know what all these other immigrants are doing? How did they speed up the process?


As for the language thing, I really don’t care what language you speak and I’m not going to force you to learn English and/or French. But if you don’t know either of these languages, please don’t work in the customer service field. If you have direct contact with the public, you really should learn the language.

I don’t want to play charades when I order my lunch, I just want to eat. I’m really a patient person, and if you want to have a casual conversation with me, despite your lack of fluency in the English language, I’m ok with that. I understand it’s difficult to learn, with all of our slang, synonyms, and so forth. Let’s chat. I’ll even play Pictionary if it helps. But I really need you to avoid running a business, unless you can hire staff that speak the national language.

I’m not going to be rude, or go overboard with this rant. Honestly, Canada is the home of multiculturalism and the land of the immigrants. I embrace that.

How else will we learn new things?


But leave our anthem alone. That’s the one and only thing we have.

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  • PurplePeopleEater

    This actually isn't true!

    http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/canada…

    This started as a chain e-mail about the US National Anthem being sung in Spanish, and then got transformed into the Canadian National Anthem being sung in Hindi at the 2010 Olympics. Bruce Allen didn't even say those comments!

    Needless to say, reading this has sparked an intellectual discussion between myself and my boy. I agree that our National Anthem is nothing to be trifled with. I mean, if you don't want to speak English or French that's fine, but is it really so difficult to learn the National Anthem in either language? You need to in order to gain citizenship anyway! That being said, I don't think this is really a problem. I certainly have never heard of language groups calling for official translations of our National Anthem in any language.

    • http://www.intensedebate.com/people/JacStar JacStar

      thanks for the link girly!

      The article I read is posted in blue, and I wasn't sure if it was true so I tried not to quote directly. But either way, I thought it a good blog rant. Just a note… people don't come here for citizenship anymore. The only thing citizenship is good for is voting, and a canadian passport. if you plan to stay here, you don't need a passport and who listens to the vote anyways? Overrated

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