Canada officially adopted “O Canada” as its national anthem in 1980.
The song was first performed in Quebec City on June 24, 1880, at a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day celebration. The original French lyrics were written by Adolphe-Basile Routhier, and the music was composed by Calixa Lavallée. Robert Stanley Weir later wrote the English lyrics most commonly used today.
Although O Canada became widely popular long before 1980, it did not receive formal national-anthem status until Parliament passed the National Anthem Act. The act received royal assent on June 27, 1980, shortly before the song’s centennial.
The English and French versions are not literal translations in every line, and Canada also has officially authorized bilingual versions. In 2018, Parliament changed the English wording from “true patriot love in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command,” making the text gender-neutral.