Dear Editor,
Several weeks ago, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau spoke to reporters declaring, “We’re probably going to keep booing the American anthem.”
I was aghast to hear a prime minister encourage this behaviour rather than call for its demise.
You see, I spent several years working with boys and girls aged five to 21 and both our staff and volunteers passionately extolled the virtues of teamwork and mutual respect in all our programs but especially in the various sports nights we ran in Black Diamond, Turner Valley and Longview.
I always taught my charges to cheer the away team because without them, the game wouldn’t happen. I also urged them to consider they would sometimes be the away team, far from friends and family, and they’d hope to be treated with respect in much the same fashion.
I believe the concepts of dignity and integrity should be woven into our entire society and that sports should play a massive role in achieving this goal. So, to hear the leader of Canada normalize and enable jeering hostility at sporting events made me feel outrage on the behalf of every adult in this country who has worked so hard to make sports safe, fair, fun and accessible to people of all ages, creeds and colours.
Hopefully, Canadians still have the ability to understand the difference between the teen girl who is singing the U.S. anthem, the away team, their coaches and staff and those who are setting the tariff policies which they do not like.
Or maybe we don’t or can’t understand the differences anymore. Maybe, since everyone’s cell phone became a camera and the internet made everyone their own media outlet, we have entered a hereto unknown era of hyper performativity.
Why not yell at the nervous teen girl who is going to have to sing the U.S. anthem through the din! Boo! Hiss! Elbows up and thumbs down! And be sure to Tik Tok it. The world is waiting for you to show them your Canadian “pride.”
In closing, I sincerely hope the children I worked with still remember what I taught them: “Cheaters never win and winners never cheat” and “Treat others as you would like to be treated” because being gracious and polite is the real Canadian way.
A.M. Witney
Diamond Valley
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Well said.. but while I do think it's VERY important to teach children these values early on (including the downsizes of social media as you've pointed out), I think a lot of people feel a bit helpless right now with all the turmoil going on politically that booing an anthem feels like all they can do in protest.