Song For Canada

Written by Ian Tyson and Peter Gzowski in the mid-1960s, after the Quiet Revolution was under way in Quebec but before the FLQ bombs and kidnappings started, Song For Canada has English Canada speaking to French Canada, asking for tolerance and understanding and promising a future together.

Ian Tyson and his wife Sylvia, recorded it on one of their early LPs, and sang it at a Liberal Party function. As the audience listened to the song, people turned to look at prime minister Lester Pearson; Pearson reacted by looking at his watch.