Want proof that Canada is a bilingual country? THE Oh Canada was sung in two languages before the Jets game last Saturday in Winnipeg. Yes, yes, in two languages: English and Punjabi. What? Are you telling me that Punjabi is not one of the two official languages of the country? You're telling me that Oh Canada was written 143 years ago by a French speaker in honor of French Canadians, and it is insulting that it is not sung in French today? But how xenophobic you are! Dirty racists, go! You lack openness, tolerance, inclusion!
• Also read: [EN IMAGES] National Hockey League: The Canadian anthem is sung in Punjabi in Winnipeg
A POSTNATIONAL COUNTRY
In Trudeau's father's country, bilingualism was English/French. Being bilingual in Trudeau Jr.'s country is English/any language other than French spoken by a minority, illustrating the multiculturalism of this post-national country… When they learned that When the national anthem was sung in English and Punjabi in Winnipeg , complained the Quebec nationalists. And they were immediately mocked by the usual communitarians: comedian Sugar Sammy and columnist Toula Drimonis. Drimonis wrote in MTL Cult: “It is intellectually dishonest of Quebec nationalists to suddenly claim they care about the national anthem when they are normally busy despising all things Canadian.” Can someone ask Ms. Drimonis to read Wikipedia? She would have learned that nationalists were interested in “O Canada” because “O Canada” was written by Adolphe-Basile Routhier in 1880; that the music was composed by Calixa Lavallée; that the song was not translated into English until 1906; that the song was commissioned by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec for the ceremony of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, the national holiday of those who were then called “French Canadians.” Toula Drimonis also wrote: “More [les nationalistes québécois] The more people see immigration as a threat to their collective identity, the less able they are to imagine that new immigrants are part of our ongoing development.”
It's funny that Drimonis uses the word “threat” because it's the exact same word that Sugar Sammy uses to ridicule the Quebec nationalists' response. He brought out an old gag he had done on stage in which he made fun of people who felt “threatened” by listening to Hockey Night in Punjabi. Damn, we’re not angry about what happened in Winnipeg because we feel “threatened” by immigrants! Because we want to respect the two founding peoples and the two official languages!
Screenshot from account X @NHLJets
LOST IN TRANSLATION
The young people who sang O Canada in English and Punjabi in Winnipeg attend Amber Trails, a school that has been offering a dual language program: English-Punjabi since the start of the 2023 school year. I hope this school teaches that Manitoba was founded by Francophones like Louis Riel. I hope we learn that French was banned as a language of instruction in Manitoba for a long time. I hope we convey how humiliating it was for Gabrielle Roy, author of Bonheur d'occasion, to have to hide to learn French in Saint-Boniface.
How do you say “humiliating” in Punjabi?