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systemic racism

‘We can’t afford to blow this moment,’ Bailey says of the push brought on by Floyd’s death (Photograph by Kwaku Kufuor)

Listen to Donovan Bailey

Twenty-four years ago, the nation was unwilling to hear the Olympic hero’s message. It matters more than ever as Canadians finally confront their country’s own racist history. “We can’t afford to blow this moment," he says.
Allegretto con Bravura, handwritten sheet music by Calixa Lavallée. (Courtesy: Library and Archives Canada e011163931)

The hidden racist history of ’O Canada’

Laila El Mugammar: Every time I stand for the Canadian national anthem, I think about the song’s composer, who founded a blackface minstrel troupe. What does it mean to sing the melody of a man who wore me as a costume?