Hail Canada! (1885)

Hail Canada is a patrotic poem that was written by John A. Macdonald (first prime minister of Canada from 1867-1873 and 1878-1891).  The poem was written circa 1885 and was set to the music composed by Calixa Lavallée (O'Canada). Lavallée's composition was originally a French Canadian patriotic song commissioned for the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society and first performed on June 24, 1880, at a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day banquet in Quebec City.  It later spread across English speaking Canada, and the most well known English lyrics written by Robert Stanly Weir were adopted in 1908. This copy was published sometime around 1920.