Our Song takes us to where art and politics, culture and history collide in the form of a tune – known to us all, but a mystery to most.
It’s the song we all know but know nothing about.
Our Song is a feature length documentary that tells the extraordinary story of the most Canadian of melodies, O Canada. In this moment of national reckoning, it has never been more relevant than today. It is a profound, provocative exploration of how we express nationhood through music and lyrics.
Our Song is told through the eyes and experiences of artists: those who perform the song today and the remarkable and largely-forgotten musician who composed it 145 years ago, Calixa Lavallée.
O Canada was born as a celebration solely of French-Canadian nationalism, with lyrics by Adolphe-Basile Routhier that have never changed to this day. But now it is now seen by many Québécois as a symbol of English Canada. The English lyrics, by Robert Stanley Weir, came years later and have been the subject of constant debate and change.
Through it all, O Canada endures as a central symbol of our nationhood, a song we all learn as school children. Our anthem has brought Canadians to tears at moments of athletic triumph, but has also been a political football that has taken many strange bounces. Critics say it ignores First Nations, while some Indigenous singers have performed it in the language of their ancestors.
The film pulses with youthful energy, music and the arts, drawing upon interviews with students, historians, diverse cultural commentators, and performers, along with ordinary Canadians. It delves into the fragility and necessity of national symbols, and how they can be intertwined with the beauty and inspiration of music.
Our Song is a necessary telling of an essential Canadian story that Canadians do not know. It is an exploration of why, and whether, we need anthems, and of how ours imperfectly aspires to define what it means to be Canadian.
To donate to this project:
Online: via Canada Helps – Click Here To Donate
By Phone: 416-561-8547 cell
By Mail: Please make cheques payable to:
Breakout Educational Network – O Canada Project
11 Glencairn Avenue
Toronto, Ontario. M4R 1M6
Breakout will send you a charitable receipt via mail or by email.
Thank you!
Breakout Educational Network is a registered charitable educational organization.
Charitable registration #1020072-21.