From booing to singing, crowds keep drowning out anthems at Canadian sporting events
The Beaches singer Jordan Miller had thousands shouting along at hockey game against Sweden Tuesday
After weeks of Canadian fans booing the U.S. national anthem at sporting events, enthusiastic singing is drowning out O Canada.
Canadian sports fans have been burying The Star-Spangled Banner with jeers and boos since U.S. President Donald Trump announced punishing tariffs on Canada and made repeated suggestions that the country should become "the 51st state."
But on Tuesday, Jordan Miller, singer for Juno Award-winning rock band The Beaches, was overtaken by a raucous crowd while belting out the Canadian national anthem before Team Canada's 4 Nations Face-Off opener against Sweden at Montreal's Bell Centre.
Miller thanked the enthusiastic fans in a post on the band's TikTok, saying she could barely hear herself sing.
"It was an incredibly humbling experience to have the opportunity to represent my country in Montreal at the 4 Nations Face-Off," Miller said in a statement to CBC. "It's a rare moment when you get to share a song with 15,000 others, and I was incredibly moved by how loudly everyone in the crowd sang."
Canada is slated to face the U.S.at Bell Centre Saturday evening, setting the stage for a potentially rowdy pre-game with both anthems on deck.
Canadians 'not used to' this kind of patriotism
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, a journalist and author of the children's book Our Song: The Story of O Canada, says we are going to see "patriotism of the sort that we are unfamiliar with in this country."
"We don't thump our chests the way other countries do ... We're not used to this kind of raw patriotism, and yet you're seeing it coming out," he said.
Even though Kuitenbrouwer has lived in the U.S. and has family there, he said he would likely join in on booing our southern neighbours' anthem if he were attending the game, even though it contradicts "the inclusive, generous nature that we like to feel we have as Canadians."
Kyra Daniel, a 15-year-old singer from Kingston, Ont., was on the other end of the anthem chaos earlier this month, facing loud boos as she performed the U.S. national anthem before a Toronto Raptors NBA game against the Los Angeles Clippers at Scotiabank Arena.
She had a heads up that the U.S. anthem received a rude reception at an Ottawa Senators NHL game the previous night, but didn't expect the boos to be so immediate and loud.
"It was definitely difficult to sing through. I can't pretend like it wasn't," Daniel told CBC.
The US anthem gets booed at the Raptors game. Never seen this before. <a href="https://t.co/HDipiMs9fW">pic.twitter.com/HDipiMs9fW</a>
—@william_louThose boos quickly turned to exuberant cheers as she soldiered on through O Canada, feeling "a complete switch in energy" from the crowd.
Daniel, who has been singing the anthem at Raptors games for two years, said she was emotional after the performance, but was comforted by her dad and the team's staff.
"I knew not to take the boos personally because I knew that wasn't for me, but it was kind of hard to process in the moment, just because I was so thrown off by it and I was wasn't expecting it to that extent," she said.
"I had a hard time just accepting it after and just being like, 'Oh, that wasn't my fault.'"
But the experience hasn't turned her off of singing the anthems at major sporting events; she's excited to do it again for the Raptors in March.
"I know now what to expect, which kind of gives me a bit of an advantage, because I know it feels like and I know what it sounds like. So yeah, I'll definitely be back."
Author says stick with pre-game anthems
The pre-game controversies have sparked discussions about whether national anthems still have a place at sporting events, or whether instrumental-only versions should be played instead of bringing in singers.
In Kuitenbrouwer's view, the anthem ritual is more important now than ever.
He said it feels good for people to sing together, whether it's a hymn at church, a Christmas carol, or happy birthday. And for Canadians navigating this political moment, it's a way to feel united.
"I think there's this pent-up need among Canadians to express their nationalism and their devotion, and also potentially a fear, frankly, of a very powerful neighbour that is sabre-rattling in a way that makes us deeply uncomfortable," Kuitenbrouwer said.
"We have a need for an outlet to express our devotion to and love for our country, and that's how we express it. And I think it's a wonderful sign."
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