"I am, sorry if you think that we'd be better off annexed." -- Chantal Kreviazuk

No, Chantal, that’s not the problem, nobody is thinking that. Please, just sing the anthem normally because we are all really anxious to sing along with you.

Let me start by saying that I care deeply about our National Anthem and am still annoyed that there is a problem with the National Anthem Act, an actual mistake in the sheet music that you may have heard me complain about. And I also have a little experience performing the anthem before a game - dozens of times with the UW Warriors Band, sometimes at a pre-Olympic basketball match, occasionally with Argonotes before an Argos game and even once at the World Beer Games, a debacle that some day will earn its own blog post.

So anyway.

Last night Canada beat the USA 3-2 in Boston, in a thrilling conclusion to the 4 Nations Faceoff hockey tournament. And I am very glad we won, because if we hadn’t, we’d all be blaming Chantal Kreviazuk for the loss.

Things being how they are, the atmosphere was politically charged, and thousands of Canadians in the arena in Boston, and millions more back home (including Cathy and me at a packed Esplanade Bier Market in Toronto) were desperate to sing along.

Chantal Kreviazuk, who is a fine singer, and who I’m sure had the best of intentions, decided to change one line to make a statement and take a shot at President Trump’s persistent attempts to make Canada the 51st state. So instead of True patriot love, in all of us command! she sang True patriot love, that only us command.

She wrote the modified lyric on her hand, too, and shared this photo

OK - a nice thought - BUT ….

Somehow she fumbled the 2nd line in French also, singing O Canada! Terre nos ..aieux ..uhhhhh instead of O Canada! Terre de nos aïeux! (which is “O Canada, land of our ancestors.")

So this is how it went. With millions watching. I will annotate what many were thinking.

1. O Canada! (Canadian fans, YES LET’S GO WHOOOOOOO)
2. Terre nos aieux uhhhh! (Canadian fans: Wait, What was that? She must be nervous)
3. True patriot love! (Canadian fans: OK, back on track, here we go, I’m ready to sing)
4. That only us command! (Canadian fans: Huh? What song is she singing? She’s lost me, I need to start my social media complaint.)

She also, as is sadly common, over-elaborated on the tune.

And of course some US fans were booing the whole time. Fair enough, we booed yours.

Now, I think Ms Kreviazuk is a fine singer, and she meant well by putting in a dig at Donald Trump on line 4, and she has since apologized, sort of, writing

i am sorry if my performance of our national anthem rubbed you the wrong way. if i was a little off pitch or if it wasn’t perfect in its tone. i am sorry if i messed up the french line i inserted to bring some balance to our nation’s history without losing those words “glorious and free” in english…

i am sorry if you think that we’d be better off annexed.

here is the thing. art to me is an expression of our truth. and in this very peculiar and potentially consequential moment i truly believe that we must stand up, use our voices and try to protect ourselves… no - we should express our outrage in the face of any abuses of power. i was raised in part by music that was inspired by brave voices committed to peaceful conflict resolution.

Canada , not unlike ukraine is a sovereign nation. period. we have a culture individual to others. we are united in our values. we care. we’re kind. We are strong. #canadastrong #expressyourtruth #peaceandlove

“I am, sorry if you think that we’d be better off annexed.” NOBODY IS THINKING THAT. Here’s what we’re thinking.

Things are very politically charged between Canada and the USA right now, and we all desperately wanted to sing along with you. This is a glorious opportunity for a talented singer like yourself to lead us in belting out O Canada, but to do that, we need to be able to follow your lead!

Especially at an international match. Let us sing with you! We want you to lead us! And perhaps if you’re going to make a political statement, do it at the end when we’re all behind you, not at the beginning when we’re all rattled by this change.

I was mad at the time; now, I’m grateful for her apology, and hope she’ll get another chance but this time, sing the song as written, and let us proudly sing it with you too.