French Version

• In 1880, Calixa Lavallee, who was considered to be the national musician of Canada, and Judge Adolphe-Basile Routhier were commissioned by the Honorable Theodore Robitaille, the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, to write a song to be played at the National Congress of French-Canadians for the St. Jean-Baptiste Day celebrations on June 24. Routhier wrote the words and Lavallee wrote the tune that was to become the French version of "O, Canada" that still is used today.
  
  

First English Version

• A group of school children sang the French version in honor of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, who toured Canada in 1901. This was most likely the first time that English-speaking Canadians had heard the song. In 1906, Thomas Bedford Richardson wrote an English translation that was published in Toronto along with the original French version and the Mendelssohn Choir performed Richardson's translation that same year.
  
  

Further English Versions

• The inaugural Canadian edition of Collier's Weekly had a competition for English lyrics for "O, Canada" in 1908. Mercy E. Powell McCulloch wrote the winning entry, but it was not very popular. Several other versions were written that same year but did not gain full acceptance until Robert Stanley Weir, a lawyer and the Recorder of the City of Montreal, wrote his version, which was published in a form for the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation in 1927.
  
  

Rise in Popularity

• When World War I broke out in 1914, the French version of "O, Canada" and Weir's English version were the most popular patriotic and well-known patriotic songs in Canada. The Association of Canadian Clubs voted to have Weir's English version played before every club meeting. The Canadian Authors Association also endorsed it. The Canadian Government authorized it to be sung in schools and at public functions by 1927. In 1958, the Native Songs of Canada voted to support the song. During World War II, the Right Honorable William Lyon Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister of Canada, said that "O, Canada" and "God Save The King" should both be used as national anthems.
  
  

Official Process

• The Canadian Government formed a committee to look into adopting a national anthem in 1964. The committee recommended "O, Canada" to be the national anthem on March 16, 1967 along with some minor changes to Weir's English version. After some initial resistance from Weir's family, the government bought the copyright to the song in 1970. However, Parliament failed to act on making it the national anthem until 1980. The bill was passed unanimously on June 27 and the official ceremony took place on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Canada Day, July 1, 1980.