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We stand on guard for thee.
Our national anthem is more than words; it’s a promise. It’s about the protection of all people and the environment, while the U.S. anthem is about the War of 1812 — a war they lost against Canada, their closest neighbour and ally.
Thomas Jefferson said, “The acquisition of Canada ... will be a mere matter of marching,” that Canada would welcome them with open arms.
Now, a little over 200 years later, there’s another misinformed American who doesn’t know history or Canadians. Not only were they wrong; they were dead wrong. Ask the dead at River Raisin or Valley Forge or Queenston Heights.
The White House burned.
Zebulon Pike, of Pikes Peak fame, blown up trying to take Fort York (Toronto) along with most of the rest of his crew, had to be shipped back to Sackets Harbor in a barrel of whisky, according to legend.
We (then the British) held most of New York City for seven years.
We took Savannah, Ga., and fought as far south as New Orleans. In fact, if we hadn’t given the land back at the end of the war, the entire eastern seaboard down to Florida would have been Canada.
The win/lose argument is still debated around the re-enactment campfires, but my mother answered it the best: “Who won the War of 1812? Do you live in the United States?”
My mom was a member of the National Genealogical Society of Washington, D.C., and held the rank of certified genealogist for the Board for Certification of Genealogists in the United States. She was the first Canadian — indeed the first non-U.S. citizen — ever to be certified by that century-old organization.
In 1985, she was elected to its board of trustees, where she represented a Canadian professional voice in North American genealogical research matters. She was awarded the Queen’s Medal for her work in United Empire Loyalist (UEL) lineages and was Canada’s dominion genealogist for a quarter-century.
The Loyalists were mostly tradespeople and people who saw themselves as minorities. They included various religions, women and Black people. They left the U.S. intolerances for a better life and built Canada.
We embrace our differences and environment, and respect others’ values. We are proud of our vast forests and the Arctic. And, no, it is not open for American plunder, like they have decimated so much of their own country.
We will not, nor will we ever, become American. We value life, hence our national health-care system for all, women’s right to choose, work and vote, and gun laws that prevent the murders the U.S. sees on a daily basis. We value an educated populace, not a population that gets its education through fictional stories and TV.
Tariffs? Bring ’em on.
To our politicians, I don’t suggest reciprocal tariffs, which would also hurt Canadians. As we live in a global economy, I suggest a complete embargo to the U.S. and find different buyers for our products. Let’s see them build houses without wood, ships without steel or cancer treatment without uranium.
If you want to learn more about the veterans of the War of 1812 (yes, we honour our veterans, even when they weren’t ‘technically’ Canadian), visit www.GravesideProject.ca.
Canada, we stand on guard for thee, glorious and free, and not under any American federal criminal’s authoritarian boot.
Seaghan Hancocks, UEL
Barrie
