Just sticking my head in to add that we also sang O Canada (sometimes other songs, but always including O Canada) every school day, up to and including my graduation in 1996. Lil’ bro, who graduated in 2001, says it was still going strong during his time, as well.
As another data point, I remember singing O Canada and saying the Lord’s Prayer in elementary school in BC in the mid-'80s. I can’t recall exactly when it stopped, but it was before I started high school.
Had a great Canada Day here too. Spent a large portion of the afternoon lounging in the sun with a wonderful guy listening to free jazz fest concerts, then joined a group of our friends to lindy bomb Granville Island.
At my Ontario school in the 1960s, every morning began with O Canada (usually), God Save The Queen, and a Bible reading or prayer. Not knowing which patriotic song would eventually become the official anthem, we’d sometimes substitute The Maple Leaf Forever for O Canada. I can still remember it:
*In days of yore from Britannia’s shore,
Wolfe the dauntless hero came,
And planted firm Britannia’s flag,
On Canada’s fair domain.
The maple leaf, our emblem dear,
The maple leaf forever!
God save the Queen and Heaven bless,
The maple leaf forever!*
By the 1970s, it was just O Canada and a minute of “silent thought” before the announcements about sports practices and meetings of the Chess Club and whatnot. Today, I’m the only person I know who can remember the words to The Maple Leaf Forever.
Anyway, the Canada Day just past, my wife and I found ourselves in Toronto. It was a fast visit and we spent the day downtown. We walked by the big celebration in Queen’s Park, and something in Dundas Square, but our attention was on other things. Still, we raised a glass to Canada when we met my Dad for dinner later.
In Saskatchewan in the 70’s, we also sang “O Canada” and recited the Lord’s Prayer every day in grade school.
Same here. Went to Catholic school, so everyday during our TA class (about 20 minutes in high school) or assembly (elementary) before we went over announcements and such we’d sing O Canada and say the Lord’s prayer. The only school I went to that didn’t do that had an odd format to work with so there wasn’t time blocked off for that.
Ditto in Alberta in the late 70s, early 80s. Lord’s Prayer stoppeed in grade 8 when we moved from the elementary to the ‘big’ school.