Winnipeg student reprimanded for not standing for national anthem

WINNIPEG — Reprimanded after not standing up for O Canada, that’s what an Indigenous student in Manitoba says happened to her, after she chose not to participate in singing or standing for the national anthem.

Skylla Hart says she was taken out of class by her teacher after she decided not to stand during the national anthem, and now the 15-year-old teen is speaking out with hopes her voice can bring greater awareness to what she calls a

troubling situation in our schools.

“They made it seem like I did something really wrong, and I didn’t do anything wrong,” said Hart.

“The anthem is a racist song, I don’t want to stand for a colonized country.”

Hart says she has issues with the anthems composer, Calixa Lavallee, who is known to have founded a blackface minstrel troupe which he toured and preformed with across Canada.

Hart says when she didn’t stand for the anthem, her teacher asked her to stand alone in the hallway.

So, Hart chose to sit in the hallway so as not to be standing during the anthem, which she says, was when a second teacher scowled at her.

“Another teacher came up to me and said, ‘why aren’t you standing for O Canada? Stand up’, and then I told them I don’t stand for O Canada respectfully, and then they gave me a dirty look and went back into class.”

A statement from Hart’s school division sent to City News reads:

“Our division is committed to an open and democratic society. One of the tenets of a democracy is valuing and ensuring there is a space for varied perspectives and opinions on a host of matters. As part of our collective commitment to Truth and Reconciliation and nation-to-nation building, we must make space for these perspectives and opinions in our schools.”

“If you actually learn about the history of the song where it comes from and the racist undertones behind it, I think that people would be more open to supporting Sky for taking a seat for O Canada,” said Raven Hart, Skylla’s mother.

Raven is a residential school survivor and proud of her daughter for taking a seat and holding her ground for her beliefs and culture.

She says she truly believes if more people understood the trauma and pain the national anthem brings up for Indigenous people along with what the song stands for, they wouldn’t want to stand for it either.

“And that story needs to be told so that we can truly understand the assaults that took place on Indigenous people in this country, and how so many settler populations benefit from that violence that happened and took place,” said Raven.

In the meantime, Hart says she will continue to sit for O Canada, and hopes others join her too

“Don’t be afraid to sit down, your’re making a change by sitting down for O Canada.”