Canadians' wide spread ignorance of canada
- Thread starter VanIsle
- Start date
Yer kiddin' right? Hey, did you know Merlyn Carter? Too bad about him, he was a great guy, helped me out of a few jams too.
I don't think the ignorance is as widespread as reported. Like anywhere else, there is a segment of our society that are only vaguely aware of their own existance, I took the thirteen question test and got nine of them right. Not as good as I wanted to get, but surely a pass.
You only got 20% to 45% of you test write so how can we credit your ohpinyun? I don't think ignorance is reported as widespread.
I would assume these are the ones found in the newspapers. Our rag had a similar thing, and I might have got 40% right. But some are sports trivia questions too, like that's relevant.
What passes for history class these days is mostly local and sometimes has a political agenda attached to it. For more general history our kids have to rely on those "Part of out heritage" vignettes on CBC and CTV, that is if they watch anything else but Playstation or MuchMusic.
''I've observed more Canadians know about George Washington than Sir John A. MacDonald.''
Judging from the ignorant posts on this forum, some Canadians think they know Yankee history & politics better than us Yanks. Never in my life have I ever seen Yanks try to tell anyone else that they knew politics or history better natives of their own country. What ever makes these ignorant right wing Canadians think they are so smart is beyond all reason.
Judging from the ignorant posts on this forum, some Canadians think they know Yankee history & politics better than us Yanks. Never in my life have I ever seen Yanks try to tell anyone else that they knew politics or history better natives of their own country. What ever makes these ignorant right wing Canadians think they are so smart is beyond all reason.
The whatever would be American right wing nuts and their greedy little god. Our elite (hahahaha) have frequently, in the last three decades, traveled to various magical places in the USA to break bread and quaff the koolaid of globalization. It's no fault of Canadas since our massterbating media successfully copied and or bought into your (american)pop culture time bomb. I don't want to discount the couple of hundred years of loonie limey rule, it may have played a small part in the developement of our mass madness, if in fact we have any other than hockey and grass.
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You skipped a little bit of history there. That's OK, I'll trace it back on the English-Canadian side:
God Save the Queen
YouTube - God Save the Queen Sing-A-Long
1867 (Maple Leaf Forever):
YouTube - The Maple Leaf forever (original version)
1906 (Richardson version) (English translation of the original and now official French version):
YouTube - WW1 Canadian Pathé Record
" O Canada! Our fathers' land of old
Thy brow is crown'd with leaves of red and gold.
Beneath the shade of the Holy Cross
Thy children own their birth
No stains thy glorious annals gloss
Since valour shield thy hearth.
Almighty God! On thee we call
Defend our rights, forfend this nation's thrall,
Defend our rights, forfend this nation's thrall."
1908 (McCulloch version):
" O Canada! in praise of thee we sing;
From echoing hills our anthems proudly ring.
With fertile plains and mountains grand
With lakes and rivers clear,
Eternal beauty, thos dost stand
Throughout the changing year.
Lord God of Hosts! We now implore
Bless our dear land this day and evermore,
Bless our dear land this day and evermore."
1908 (Buchan version):
From echoing hills our anthems proudly ring.
With fertile plains and mountains grand
With lakes and rivers clear,
Eternal beauty, thos dost stand
Throughout the changing year.
Lord God of Hosts! We now implore
Bless our dear land this day and evermore,
Bless our dear land this day and evermore."
1908 (Buchan version):
" O Canada, our heritage, our love
Thy worth we praise all other lands above.
From sea to see throughout their length
From Pole to borderland,
At Britain's side, whate'er betide
Unflinchingly we'll stand
With hearts we sing, "God save the King",
Guide then one Empire wide, do we implore,
And prosper Canada from shore to shore."
1908 (Weir's version, to be published in an official form for the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1927, and made the official English version of the national anthem along with the original French version in 1980):
YouTube - Canada's National Anthem Accpella Style!
"O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North, strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free !
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee."
You English Canadians really have changed the anthem like you change your underwear... and that's a good thing. The Royal Anthem, God Save the Queen, has undergone changes over the years too, according to the needs of the times. Baden Powel's version for the Boy Scouts, for instance, had cut out some of the more confrontational parts to make it more suitable for the peaceful objectives of the Scout movement, just as English Canadians have changed and modified the national anthem to reflect the religious diversity of the country (eliminating the explicti reference to the Holy Cross, for instance).
This, I think, is something we French Canadians need to learn. After all, as Quebec becomes more multi-Faith, it's natural that ever fewer Quebecers will be able to identify with references to the cross.
For an anthem to maintain its relevance, it must necessarily evolve alongside the society it pretends to represent.
Thy worth we praise all other lands above.
From sea to see throughout their length
From Pole to borderland,
At Britain's side, whate'er betide
Unflinchingly we'll stand
With hearts we sing, "God save the King",
Guide then one Empire wide, do we implore,
And prosper Canada from shore to shore."
1908 (Weir's version, to be published in an official form for the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1927, and made the official English version of the national anthem along with the original French version in 1980):
YouTube - Canada's National Anthem Accpella Style!
"O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North, strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free !
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee."
You English Canadians really have changed the anthem like you change your underwear... and that's a good thing. The Royal Anthem, God Save the Queen, has undergone changes over the years too, according to the needs of the times. Baden Powel's version for the Boy Scouts, for instance, had cut out some of the more confrontational parts to make it more suitable for the peaceful objectives of the Scout movement, just as English Canadians have changed and modified the national anthem to reflect the religious diversity of the country (eliminating the explicti reference to the Holy Cross, for instance).
This, I think, is something we French Canadians need to learn. After all, as Quebec becomes more multi-Faith, it's natural that ever fewer Quebecers will be able to identify with references to the cross.
For an anthem to maintain its relevance, it must necessarily evolve alongside the society it pretends to represent.
And here a literal translation of the original French version, which is also the current official version:
O Canada!
Land of our forefathers
Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers.
As is thy arm ready to wield the sword,
So also is it ready to carry the cross.
Thy history is an epic of the most brilliant exploits.
Thy valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights
Will protect our homes and our rights.
O Canada!
Land of our forefathers
Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers.
As is thy arm ready to wield the sword,
So also is it ready to carry the cross.
Thy history is an epic of the most brilliant exploits.
Thy valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights
Will protect our homes and our rights.
There's also the 1917 Watson versions, both for within Canada and abroad:
Lord of the Lands
What I find to be quite original about this version is the fact that it does in fact have two parallel versions, one to be sung in Canada, and an alternative version to be sung abroad. Quite a cleaver idea.
Lord of the Lands
What I find to be quite original about this version is the fact that it does in fact have two parallel versions, one to be sung in Canada, and an alternative version to be sung abroad. Quite a cleaver idea.
And according to Wikipedia, there are even recommendations to modify it yet again:
Weir's original 1908 lyrics, consisting of three verses, did not contain the word "sons", instead using the somewhat archaic "thou dost in us command", and contained no religious reference.[1][9][15] Weir changed the lyrics to "in all thy sons command" in 1914,[16] and in 1926 added a fourth verse of a religious nature.[17]
In June 1990, the city council of Toronto voted 12-7 to recommend to the Government of Canada that the phrase "our home and native land" be changed to "our home and cherished land", and "true patriot love in all thy sons command" be changed to "true patriot love in all of us command." Councillor Howard Moscoe said that the words "native land" were not appropriate for the many Canadians who were not native-born, and that the word "sons" implied "that women can't feel true patriotism or love for Canada."[18]
Feminists such as Senator Vivienne Poy have criticized the English lyrics of the anthem as being sexist.[19] In 2002, Poy introduced a bill to change the phrase "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command". In 2006, the anthem's religious references (to God in English, and to the Christian cross in French) were criticized by secularists.[20][21]
Weir's original 1908 lyrics, consisting of three verses, did not contain the word "sons", instead using the somewhat archaic "thou dost in us command", and contained no religious reference.[1][9][15] Weir changed the lyrics to "in all thy sons command" in 1914,[16] and in 1926 added a fourth verse of a religious nature.[17]
In June 1990, the city council of Toronto voted 12-7 to recommend to the Government of Canada that the phrase "our home and native land" be changed to "our home and cherished land", and "true patriot love in all thy sons command" be changed to "true patriot love in all of us command." Councillor Howard Moscoe said that the words "native land" were not appropriate for the many Canadians who were not native-born, and that the word "sons" implied "that women can't feel true patriotism or love for Canada."[18]
Feminists such as Senator Vivienne Poy have criticized the English lyrics of the anthem as being sexist.[19] In 2002, Poy introduced a bill to change the phrase "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command". In 2006, the anthem's religious references (to God in English, and to the Christian cross in French) were criticized by secularists.[20][21]
Personally, though, I'd see no point in just making modifications to it. If we're going to change it, we might as well come up with a new version that's not likely to need any more updating for awhile, To do that, of course, we'd need to come up with a version that's universally applicable.
Right on Bob, like I've said a hundred times, this left and right is a bunch of nonsense - most people just try to do what is correct- most of the time, and the majority of people are only "political" on election day- the rest of the time they are involved in 100 other things to do with earning a living, caring for family, paying bills, weeding the garden, cutting the grass etc. etc.
Marine Climate and Relative Sea Level Across Central Beringia (Land bridge at the Bering Straight)
http://www.geo.umass.edu/beringia/index.html
DNA has shown that both European and Asian origins in N. America.