Vancouver has two themes for Winter Olympics

“With Glowing Hearts,” is Vancouver’s theme for the 2010 Winter Olympics but as Canada is a bilingual country, they speak French as well.  Underneath every ‘With Glowing Hearts” banner is the phrase “Des Plus Brilliants Exploits.”  To a non-speaking French spectator, this would appear to be just a translated version of Vancouver’s English theme, however, the two are very different. 

 According to Montreal National columnist Nicolas Ritoux, the words “With Glowing Hearts,” comes from Canada’s national anthem. 

                                      With glowing hearts we see thee rise,

                                          The True North strong and free!

As stated earlier, because Canada has two national languages there is also a Canadian anthem in French, but the songs have very different meanings, according to Ritoux.  The French lyrics are below.

                                             Ton histoire est une épopée,

                                              Des plus brillants exploits.

In English, the song is about growing together as a nation whereas the French lyrics evokes a sense of patriotism for their history and those who explored Canada said Ritoux. 

When asked how he felt about the Olympics, Ritoux responded “It’s good for them.”  As a resident of Quebec he does not associate himself as Canadian.  “In town we have Canadian flags but we don’t think of ourselves as Canadian.  It’s us and them,” he said.