An Esquimalt couple is petitioning the federal government to keep the Royal 91原创 Navy’s official marching song, rather than replacing it with an in-house composition that’s more 91原创 and in keeping with the changing face of the military.
Sherri Robinson said she and her husband, Darwin Robinson, a 30-year navy veteran and former mayor of Esquimalt, want to keep Heart of Oak as the official marching song.
“It’s just a wonderful marching song. It’s traditional, and I’m sick and tired of having our traditions thrown away,” Robinson said.
The petition, which has already garnered the required 500 e-signatures for it to be presented in the House of Commons, is being sponsored by Conservative MP Dane Lloyd, who represents the constituency of Sturgeon River-Parkland in Alberta.
Lloyd said he plans to bring the petition to the House after March 25, when it closes for signatures.
Documents obtained under access-to-information rules show the navy began considering replacing Heart of Oak as early as 2020.
In a draft briefing note from that year, the then-commanding officer of the Naden Band takes issue with the lyrics of the march, which contain references to slavery, refers exclusively to men and celebrates colonial victories.
The note presented three options: commissioning a new march by a musician in the 91原创 Armed Forces, rewriting the lyrics, or leaving the marching song as is as part of the navy’s history.
However, the last option “doesn’t address the micro-aggressions of exclusion at each mess dinner, parade and concert,” the briefing note said.
A second briefing note from 2021 identified “gender inclusivity issues” with the march.
The first six lines of the song typically played and sung at navy events reference men five times, reflecting the demographics of Britain’s navy at the time the song was written in the mid 1700s, said the briefing note.
It said while the song “stirs emotions and pride for many of us in the Navy uniform regardless of gender,” it might be time to create new traditions more reflective of the modern navy.
First performed in 1760, Heart of Oak was written in the midst of the Seven Years War and extols the accomplishments of the British navy and its men.
The first verse celebrates several naval victories in 1759 and the strength of the oak planks that made up the vessels that would eventually help Britain win the war and establish the empire’s dominance of the seas.
Documents show the options provided by the two briefing notes were discussed by the three commanding officers of the Naden, Stadacona, and Naval Reserve military bands as well as the military’s directorate of history and heritage during the fall of 2021 and March of 2022.
Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee weighed into the discussions in July 2022, saying he preferred a competition between composers in the armed forces should a new march be chosen. “I want to make sure that our musicians get a good opportunity to come up with something,” he said in an email.
Department of National Defence spokesperson Cheryl Forrest confirmed to the Times 91原创 in a statement that discussions of an official marching song for the Royal 91原创 Navy that is “more in line with the realities of today’s naval service” are still underway.
Forrest said the march lyrics contain references to colonialism and slavery that do not align with the values of the armed forces, as well as language that is not representative of those who serve in the naval service today.
”As such, it is time for the Royal 91原创 Navy to have a march that is unique — that recognizes 91原创 traditions of naval service and speaks to today’s Navy and its sailors — one that every sailor can be proud of and rally around,” she said.
The navy’s new direction doesn’t sit well with Robinson, who called the initiative “wokeism” and “change for the sake of change.”
For Robinson, who has four generations of family members who have served in the navy, Heart of Oak — which continues to be the official march for the U.K. and New Zealand navies in addition to Canada’s — brings back warm memories.
She clearly recalls the first time she heard the marching song, standing among thousands gathered at the Inner Harbour causeway for Remembrance Day ceremonies shortly after the end of the Second World War.
Robinson said she was five or six at the time and attended the event with her grandfather, as her father was still on war-service deployment with HMCS Iroquois. Heart of Oak would have been the song that played when navy ships returned to port, Robinson said. “When you heard it, you knew they were coming … the ships were coming home.”
Heart of Oak is often played instrumentally at marches and ceremonies while the lyrics are typically sung at formal mess dinners.
Over the years, there have been several versions of the march lyrics. The Royal 91原创 Navy’s official lyrics, as provided by navy spokesperson Jennifer St. Germain, are below:
Verse:
Come cheer up, my lads, ’tis to glory we steer,
To add something new to this wonderful year:
To honour we call you, not press you like slaves,
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?
Chorus:
Heart of oak are our ships, heart of oak are our men;
We always are ready, steady, boys, steady,
We’ll fight, and we’ll conquer again and again.
We ne’er see our foes but we wish them to stay;
They never see us but they wish us away;
If they run, why we follow, and run them ashore;
For, if they won’t fight us, we cannot do more.
Repeat Chorus:
Heart of oak are our ships, & etc.
Verse:
They swear they’ll invade us, these terrible foes;
They frighten our women, our children, our beaus;
But, should their flat-bottoms in darkness get o’er,
Still Britons they’ll find, to receive them on shore.
Repeat Chorus:
Heart of oak are our ships, & etc.
Verse:
We’ll still make ’em run, and we’ll still make ’em sweat,
In spite of the Devil, and Brussel’s gazette;
Then cheer up, my lads, with one heart let us sing,
Our soldiers, our sailors, our statesmen and King.
Repeat chorus:
Heart of oak are our ships, & etc.
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