The music was composed by Calixa Lavallée, and the French lyrics written were by Sir Adolphe Basile Routhier. Initially, it was a French Canadian patriotic song. The anthem was sung for the first time on June 24, 1880, during a celebration of Saint John the Baptist in Quebec city. The English version, written in 1908 by the Justice Robert Stanley Weir, subsequently underwent some amendments. O Canada became the national anthem on July 1, 1980.
During his visit to Canada in 2002, Pope John Paul II sang the verses “Because your arm can carry the sword, it can carry the cross!”, thus recalling the Christian origin of the country.
The Canadian flag, the Maple Leaf Flag, designed in 1965, has a red maple leaf in a white square, flanked by two red horizontal strips.
CANADA : O Canada
