HEART OF WOKE: Navy ditching traditional march over 'gendered' lyrics
Heart of Oak, the RCN's official march, was composed in 1759 — and Navy brass want Canada to compose its own march
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OTTAWA — The traditional anthem of most commonwealth navies has Canada’s top sailors clutching their brass, while Canada’s defence minister said the RCN has every right to shape their own future.
Documents uncovered in an access-to-information request show briefing notes and email exchanges between Royal Canadian Navy officials seeking ways to “modernize” the 265-year-old naval march Heart of Oak.
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Composed in 1759 by William Boyce, the song was brought up in a December 2020 email by the commanding officer of the Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy, saying the song came up during discussions about hateful conduct.
“Heart of Oak is very ingrained in the RCN, unlike a lot of commands/branches/units who couldn’t name or hum their march,” read the email from navy Lt. Catherine Norris.
“However, I think it’s worth pointing out the hypocrisy of changing the ranks to be more inclusive while continuing to sing a march that isn’t.”
A 2021 briefing note highlighted issues with the song, saying it “reflected the demographic of the navy at the time” but doesn’t reflect the “evolving values” of the Royal Canadian Navy.
Officials say the song’s gendered language is particularly offensive, including the chorus: Heart of Oak are our ships, jolly tars our men/We always are ready, steady boys steady.
Not mentioned in the note was that the “wonderful year” mentioned in the song refers to 1759 — Great Britain’s Annus Mirabilis that saw numerous important military victories.
Those victories include the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, a pivotal campaign during the Seven Years’ War that saw British troops emerge victorious over the French Army near current-day Quebec City.
The briefing note suggested either keeping the tune but eliminating the lyrics, rewriting the lyrics like the government did to O Canada in 2018, or composing an entirely new march instead — the option recommended by the author, who pointed out the Royal Australian Navy replaced Heart of Oak with the locally-composed Royal Australian Navy March.
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A July 2022 email from RCN Commander Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee confirmed that doing away with Heart of Oak was discussed at the very top of Canada’s navy.
“One of the decisions at Admiral’s Council back in February was to replace Heart of Oak as the RCN march as it fails to meet muster on both GBA+ (Gender-based Analysis Plus) and Canadian grounds,” he wrote.
“I’m thinking that a competition is the right way to go and I want to make sure our musicians get a good opportunity to come up with something.”
During a Friday morning press conference at the Halifax International Security Forum, Defence Minister Bill Blair denied the change is to fulfill “some other agenda,” calling such allegations nonsense.
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“Heart of Oak was written in 1759, I think it is a tradition. We’re not necessarily saying to abandon all tradition, but I think the new Royal Canadian Navy has a right to choose its own path forward,” he said.
“The Royal Canadian Navy has every right to continue to advance and modernize, and if they want to have an anthem that’s appropriate for them, and theirs and theirs alone. How can we say no?”
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