Â鶹´«Ã½

Skip to main content

'Our home on native land': Jully Black makes small change to O Canada lyrics

Share

Jully Black is drawing attention for a subtle change she made to the lyrics of O Canada at Sunday's NBA All-Star Game.

The Juno Award-winning R&B singer performed the national anthem before the game in Salt Lake City, Utah and altered one line to recognize the Indigenous peoples who lived on the land before European settlers.

Black swapped out the anthem's usual opening line "O Canada! Our home and native land!" with "O Canada! Our home on native land," adding a slight emphasis to "on" when she sang.

The new lyrics appeared to draw a largely positive reaction on social media where some viewers praised Black's revised lyrics.

The singer was not immediately available for comment.

Rapper Chuck D, a member of U.S. hip-hop group Public Enemy, commended Black's performance:

"My girl @JullyBlack just kicked the most soulful O Canada I ever heard at 2023 .NBAAllStar game,"

Some criticized Black's revision, though this is hardly the first time the words in O Canada have been changed.

For instance, in 2018 a years-long effort to make the anthem more inclusive led by late Liberal MP Mauril Belanger became official when the second line was rewritten to make it gender-neutral.

The new wording of the anthem's English version became "in all of us command" from "in all thy sons command."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 20, 2023.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

A B.C. condo owner who was blamed for a cockroach infestation in her building and charged thousands of dollars for the cost of eradicating the bugs must be refunded, the civil resolution tribunal ruled.

Local Spotlight

On Saturday night at her parents’ home in Delaware, Ont. the Olympic bronze medallist in pole vault welcomed everyone who played a role in getting her to the podium in Paris.

A tale about a taxicab hauling gold and sinking through the ice on Larder Lake, Ont., in December 1937 has captivated a man from that town for decades.

When a group of B.C. filmmakers set out on a small fishing boat near Powell River last week, they hoped to capture some video for a documentary on humpback whales. What happened next blew their minds.

A pizza chain in Edmonton claims to have the world's largest deliverable pizza.

Sarah McLachlan is returning to her hometown of Halifax in November.

Wayne MacKay is still playing basketball twice at Mount Allison University at 87 years old.

A man from a small rural Alberta town is making music that makes people laugh.

An Indigenous artist has a buyer-beware warning ahead of Sept. 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Police are looking to the public for help after thieves broke into a Lethbridge ice creamery, stealing from the store.