2010 Olympic Winter Games and Translation of the Canadian National Anthem

It seems to be happening again. It's probably because the 2010 Olympic winter games are due to start in Vancouver in a few weeks. There is an e-mail circulating regarding the desire of a few to translate the Canadian National anthem to a language other than english or french during the games. Naturally, Canadians are up in arms regarding this issue. Once again there are cries for changes to the immigration system; calls for more of a 'melting pot' system as used by the United States of America. Calls for immigrants to learn our language and our ways. I will provide a link to snopes.com which follows the different generations of evolution this particular e-mail has followed. I am finding there are more and more people (Canadians) who are becoming more nationalistic and are trying to preserve our ways.

Just what are our ways? What does it mean to be Canadian?

http://www.snopes.com/politics/immigration/canadaanthem.asp (see post below for link)

(copied with permission by author)
At risk of being tagged as a red neck I feel the opinion regarding Bruce Allen and our national anthem being translated for the Olympics has some merit.

Like many people of immigrant families born in this country we were brought up to be tolerant and embrace peoples and cultures and that would enrich our lives, and for the some part it has.
The ugly side to this is when our tolerance and generosity is taken advantage of. One such atrocity is the butchering of our national anthem to suit people that cannot / will not learn the language of this country.

In my humble opinion the mosaic model this country has adopted during the Trudeau years is not working. Perhaps we should have adopted the melting pot route, then we wouldn't be having this problem.
I have experienced in Canada a complete take over of what was a nicely balanced community living in harmony and cooperation to what now represents a community from a different part of the world where little English is spoken, stores cater to the immigrant community and every strip mall signage is of a language I do not understand. And this is only going to get worse. Most immigrants no longer want to blend, they only want to re create their homeland in their own community, to be among their own kind.

Go back and review what Trudeau envisioned the mosaic to be, people from all over the world bringing cultures with them to Canada and learning and living our ways while still having a part of the old country here to enjoy. Not the dense pockets of separate communities we see in our larger cities today. Seems to me what we are seeing is an unwillingness or inability to learn our Canadian ways while bringing all the culture, family and problems from the old country here.

Open your eyes people, this has gone too far. In parallel we need to identify to new Canadians what Canadiana is, just as our parents were taught when they arrived to this country a generation ago. (Take a look at the present governments re address of the statement about Canada in the new immigration policy and it helps identify the old school culture and values of this county)

When passing this message on let's please include our ideas of Canadiana so everyone can understand our national passions and icons. These should be explained to the immigrants in your community so they can understand.

-hockey / skiing and CFL football.
-maple syrup
-learning our history instead of US history
-enjoyment of foods and cultures from all over the world (not just your own native food and culture.
-consideration of others including the people born here
- pride in our flag, our anthem and armed forces
-official languages of the two founding countries of this great nation (English and French) without compromise.
- nature
- enjoyment of all 4 seasons
-great Canadian discoveries and ingenuity (RIM, discovery of oil, baseball, telephone, oil sands etc.) please add more when you pass on this email.