Attention Summer Students! Now hiring students for summer 2024. Find your summer job here.
A one-word change in Canada’s national anthem has garnered singer Jully Black praise from the Assembly of First Nations.
Black replaced the line “our home and native land” with “our home on native land” at the NBA All-star game in February.
On Monday, the AFN honoured Black at their Special Chiefs meeting with a blanket ceremony given to show respect for those who have made a significant contribution to the First Nations community.
Black was presented with an eagle feather and wrapped in a blanket.
“She created an energetic shift in February when she changed one word in O’ Canada,” says National Chief RoseAnne Archibald. “We have always been singing it that way, I’m sure.”
“She shifted consciousness in that moment on a huge international stage simply for a shift, for singing the truth.”
Archibald says it has now led to a discussion about making the word change permanent.
“I’m grateful. Thank you for welcoming me to your hearts,” said Black. “I didn’t realize that my action would garner such a response. But on behalf of the black community, I say we are one. We’re better together.”
Since the writing of the English lyrics in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir, the national anthem has been changed three times.
It was last altered in 2018 with the line “True patriot love in all thy sons command” changed to “True patriot love in all of us command.”