National anthem sung in Punjabi at Winnipeg Jets game divides Canadians
By Isaac Lamoureux
Saturday’s Winnipeg Jets’ game against the Colorado Avalanche sparked a national debate after the Amber Trails School Choir sang the Canadian national anthem in Punjabi.
A part of the team’s South Asian Heritage Night featured the national anthem being sung in Punjabi and English for the first time in NHL history.
According to Statistics Canada, Punjabi is Canada’s fourth most spoken language at home, with 520,000 speakers, just behind Mandarin, which is in third place at 531,000 speakers.
The original post on X had 2.1M views by Wednesday morning. The post had 847 comments, filled with mixed reviews.
“I am of Punjabi background and can’t understand the need for this. Wokeism has no end,” wrote one user.
“They have translated English words into Punjabi, embracing diversity and showing inclusivity. Respect,” wrote another.
A few hours after Sportsnet had shared the initial video and the game had just finished, True North’s own Harrison Faulkner made his own post about the video, which had 1.5M views and 1.8K comments by Wednesday morning.
“What is the point of this?” Faulkner asked in his post.
This question ignited a fiery debate. Many people in the comments supported the anthem being sung in Punjabi, while others disagreed.
Rebel News’ Ezra Levant wrote a lengthy reply about why he supported the anthem despite being in favour of reduced immigration and for assimilation and integration, not multiculturalism.