MUN senate votes to reinstate the Ode to Newfoundland
The university removed the 1902 anthem from convocation in 2022
The Ode to Newfoundland will once again ring through Memorial University's convocation ceremonies, after the university's senate voted anonymously to reinstate the anthem after a lengthy discussion Tuesday evening.
The motion passed with 52 per cent voting for reinstatement, 34 per cent voting against, and 14 per cent abstaining.
The senate did not say when the 1902 anthem will re-enter ceremonial practices.
MUN first dropped the Ode from its convocation ceremonies in 2022 over inclusivity — critics of the anthem say it does not represent Labrador or Indigenous communities, and it makes religious references.
Since then, people have protested to have it reinstated, and an ad hoc committee met to "investigate, consult, discuss and consider," including it at future ceremonies.
That committee held dozens of meetings — a move some students opposed, arguing it was valuable time dedicated to a non-issue.
At Tuesday night's meeting, Catharyn Andersen, the university's vice-president Indigenous, said for her the song evokes negative thoughts and feelings and says the same goes for many other Indigenous people in MUN's community.
When she hears the music or lyrics to the Ode to Newfoundland, Andersen said it brings to mind generations of colonialism and historical violence against Indigenous people in the province and across Canada.
"It's not neutral," Andersen said. "When the Ode is sung, just remember that some of us will be impacted in that way."
Senate member and professor Delores Mullings echoed Andersen's concerns, and said the committee — which she was a part of for some time — could have done more to consider the perspective of racially marginalized groups.
"We did not take an indigenization lens nor a reconciliation lens," she said.
Edwin Bezzina, however, argued the committee did its due diligence and had several meetings with racialized groups. He added that two committee members were Indigenous.
Bezzina told MUN senators and hearing observers that he supports the motion to reinstate the Ode in convocation ceremonies, but suggested that the path forward may include a new version of it.
MUN senate member Craig Purchase resigned from the committee in May, 2024, but passionately expressed his position Tuesday.
"I'm supporting the motion with all my being," Purchase said. "I think it was a colossal mistake by the university to remove the provincial anthem in the beginning. The university has suffered tremendous cost from that, from the public of this province."
"If the senate votes against this motion now, that will be even worse," he said.
Purchase also wants Memorial University to apologize for what he called "this mess."
The Tuesday evening meeting had to be extended to discuss the ad-hoc committee's report on the Ode to Newfoundland, resulting in several senate members saying they opposed the motion, but may not have had time to vote.
Among those members was professor and author Lisa Moore, who said "this province has a very powerful history of raising their voices, and part of raising our voices has been to respond to change. That is what resilience is."
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