“O Canada” is the national anthem of Canada. The song was originally commissioned by the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, the Honourable Théodore Robitaille, for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony. Calixa Lavallée wrote the music, which was a setting of a patriotic poem composed by the poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The lyrics were in French, but were translated into English in 1906.
The English translation of the lyrics was produced two years before Robert Stanley Weir wrote another English version, one that is not a literal translation of the French. Weir’s lyrics have been revised twice, taking their present form in 1980, but the French lyrics remain unaltered. “O Canada” had served as a de facto national anthem since 1939, but it was not officially Canada’s national anthem until 1980, when the Act of Parliament making it so received Royal Assent and become effective on July 1 as part of that year’s Dominion Day celebrations.
Lyrics:
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.