Rousing Words, Eh?

This week marks two solemn dates on the American calendar. One is the 50^th anniversary on November 22^nd of the assassination of John Firzgerald Kennedy. This is one of those few events in history that carries such significance that everyone of a certain age can remember where they were when it happened. Even a 10 year old school kid in Winnipeg. My teacher announced it with a grave voice that day in my classroom. All the adults were very sad for a long time.

The other noteworthy event this week is the 150^thanniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address which was on November 19^th.. Did you learn to recite it off by heart when you were in school? I did. In my school, we were taught to memorize the Gettysburg Address and then raise our voices in unison with all the gravitas that grade four kids can muster.

This would not have been an unusual task for school kids in those days, except for the fact that we were little Canadian school kids. I’ve often wondered why we were taught such a quintessentially American speech. No doubt because it is a brilliant oratorical work – and when you’re in grade four you really do appreciate great oratory. Or perhaps our teacher took  an opportunity on the 100^th anniversary of President Lincoln’s speech  to put President Kennedy’s death into some historical context for us. I really don’t recall. I just remember belting out, “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth…….” with sincere 8-year-old solemnity. I think we even learned the Pledge of Allegiance.

That’s what it was like to be a kid in Canada in the olden days. We learned our Canadian history, sure. About Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain and all the explorers looking for the Northwest Passage and “discovering” Canada in the process. About early settlement in New France and important battles for sovereignty and Confederation in 1867. But we learned American and British history quite thoroughly and in those years we began to learn French as well. It was enough  to give a kid an identity crisis.

I mean, why didn’t we learn to recite any illustrious Canadian speeches? Hasn’t there ever been Canadian words of sufficient eminence to cross the border and be studied in American classrooms? This week, I determined to find out. So I googled, “Famous Canadian Speeches,”  and I’m thinking, “Please, please don’t let me find Rob Ford’s potty-mouthed outbursts. Good grief, I will shrivel and die if that base level of vulgarity is what will distinguish Canadian public speaking for years to come.

Whew! Toronto’s mayor was not represented on what I found. However, here is what I did find:

·         A speech by French President, Charles de Gaulle, who in the summer of 1967 in Montreal, fanned the fires of Quebec separatism with the words, “Vive le Quebec libre!” (say it like this: VEEE-VA, le Quebec LEEEEEEE-bra)

·         Throne Speeches by various Governors General representing Her Majesty at various openings of Parliament over the years. Important, but yawny.

·         Prime Minister, Pierre Trudeau’s remarks during an impromptu television interview in October 1970 after he had imposed the War Measures Act to quell the separatists, when asked how far he would go, replied, “Just watch me.”

·         And a Molson beer ad called, “I am Canadian!”

OK, this was discouraging. Nothing on the scale of the Gettysburg Address? Canadian history buffs please prove me wrong! What have we got that compares to "Four score...." or "Ask NOT what your country can do for you..." or "I have a dream today...."?

In the meantime, my money’s on the Molson’s ad, because it really is quite stirring!

 I am Canadian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRI-A3vakVg

Or, you might enjoy the Willam Shatner version. He is Canadian.

I am Canadian by William Shatner

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOnQROgk1IM

Since the first publication of this blog, my friend Sandy found this beautiful speech by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson made on the occasion of dedicating Canada's new maple leaf flag:. The language reflects the times, the 1960s:

“May the land over which this new Flag flies remain united in freedom and justice; a land of decent God-fearing people; fair and generous in all its dealings; sensitive, tolerant and compassionate towards all men; industrious, energetic, resolute; wise, and just in the giving of security and opportunity equally to all its cultures; and strong in its adherence to those moral principles which are the only sure guide to greatness.”
Lester B. Pearson