O’ Canada! Council wants national anthem to start meetings

Collingwood councillors would like to raise their voices to ring in each council meeting with a show of Canadian pride.

In a lengthy report compiled by the heads of multiple town departments considered by Collingwood council at their committee of the whole meeting on March 31, staff gave an update on Collingwood’s push to buy Canadian in response to the U.S. trade war.

As part of that report, staff suggested that one way the town could show more Canadian pride is to have the Canadian national anthem played to kick off all council meetings.

The idea was a good one, according to Deputy Mayor Tim Fryer, who put forward a motion to put it in place. The national anthem is currently played to kick off every County of Simcoe council meeting, where both Fryer and Mayor Yvonne Hamlin have seats.

“I wonder why I didn’t bring this forward before. It’s reactionary rather than proactive. It’s like a lot of what we deal with here. Maybe we become a little complacent,” said Fryer. “I agree with it being done at the county and... I’d like to have it done here as well.”

“I understand it’s not a case of doing it tomorrow. Staff will have to prepare so we can do it,” he said.

Coun. Kathy Jeffery said if the anthem were going to be played, she’d like to see a version that includes English, French and Indigenous languages.

“It’s nice, and it would contribute to all of our inclusivity, diversity and equity strategies,” she said.

Coun. Deb Doherty said that while she was generally supportive, she had reservations about some implications for First Nations’ communities.

“The confederation of our country is also symbolic of the colonialism of their nations. We need to consider that aspect before we adopt that change,” she said.

Coun. Christopher Baines asked whether there should be an end date for when the anthem would be played.

“Unless it’s the will of council to continue this indefinitely, I think it would be wise to have a cap on it,” he said.

Fryer said he wasn’t thinking there wouldn’t be an end date at this time.

Council voted 8-1 in favour of having the Canadian national anthem played at the beginning of council meetings moving forward, with Doherty opposed.

As any decisions made during committee of the whole need a formal council vote before proceeding, another vote on the matter will take place during the next council meeting on April 14.