Reel Beach: Remembering Alexander Muir and The Maple Leaf Forever

By BERNIE FLETCHER

Canadians are standing up together for “the true north strong and free.” The maple leaf and our national anthem O Canada are symbols of our belief in freedom and democracy.

Amid political tensions last month we saw controversies over the booing of anthems at the 4 Nations Face-Off. The U.S. team picked fights and won the first game, but Canada came back to win the final.

Long before O Canada became our official national anthem in 1980, The Maple Leaf Forever was a patriotic song that many in English Canada regarded as an unofficial anthem. It was written by Alexander Muir in Leslieville in 1867 to celebrate the Confederation of our country.

Muir was born in Scotland in 1830 and came to Canada at the age of three when the family settled in Scarborough.
Muir was a teacher, principal, poet, athlete and volunteer soldier with the Queen’s Own Rifles. In 1866 he fought against the Fenian Raids at the Battle of Ridgeway.

Muir became the principal of Leslieville School in the 1860s and lived at the corner of Pape Avenue and what is now Queen Street East (which was still known east of the Don River at the time as Kingston Road).

Muir was ahead of his time. He involved students in experiments and took them for nature walks. He did not believe in corporal punishment, would not tolerate bullying and tried to instill a deep respect for Canada and its history.

The Maple Leaf, our emblem dear, the Maple Leaf forever.

In her book Leslieville: Pigs, Flowers and Bricks, Joanne Doucette tells the story of the mystery of The Maple Leaf Forever.
In October 1867, Muir was walking with his friend George Leslie when a bright maple leaf fell on Leslie’s coat sleeve. Leslie suggested that Muir write a poem about the beautiful emblem of Canada.

Muir was inspired to set the patriotic words to music and the song became very popular.

The Maple Leaf Forever became old Hollywood’s favourite background music, played behind the opening credits of many early films set in Canada, including The Country Doctor (1936), Susannah of the Mounties (1939) and Captains of the Clouds (1942), the first Hollywood picture filmed entirely in Canada. The flicks loved the images of Mounties, fur traders, Rocky Mountains and endless snow.

This month Anora won the Best Picture Oscar for the tale of a woman standing up to a Mafia Don.

Back in 1949 Jane Wyman won the Best Actress Award for her performance in Johnny Belinda (1948) as a deaf mute woman in Nova Scotia attacked by a predator. In among the fishermen saying “aboot”, there was the music of The Maple Leaf Forever as well as O Canada.

Alexander Muir and his song are remembered in Toronto by a garden, mural, school and street names.

Take a stroll down Memory Lane that runs just south of Queen Street East beside the Maple Leaf Forever Park and Maple Cottage (c. 1873) on Laing Street. The alleyway just south of the parkette is where Ralphie was beaten up by the taunting Scut Farkus in the nostalgic film A Christmas Story (1983).

How to stand up to a bully

Bullies are mostly cowards who didn’t get enough love from their fathers. Bullies only understand strength. Sometimes you have to fight back.

Like a Canuck hockey team, Ralphie comes back another day and lets his fists fly with the backdrop of the TTC streetcar barns.
The song is mostly forgotten now, but Michael Buble sang a version of The Maple Leaf Forever at the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics.

It’s been a brutal winter and we need some sunshine. Maybe we could politely invite California to join us as our 11th province?

Canada offers decency, universal healthcare, poutine not Putin, as well as unlimited Ryans.

We don’t stab friends in the back and we don’t throw house guests out for telling the truth.

Canada is worth fighting for. We stand on guard for thee!

Our watchword evermore shall be
The Maple Leaf forever.