Oh Canada - Kathleen Edwards

Oh, Canada

I stand on guard for a lot

But just last week

A white girl was shot

Outside a shopping mall

Yeah, it’s written in the press

That your sweet little town

Has lost its innocence

It’s not the year of the gun

We don’t say it out loud

There are no headlines

When a black girl dies

It’s not the lack of a sense

It’s called ambivalence

All in their lanes

Under rush hour lights

There’s one head to a car

But you act so surprised

When the snow don’t come

You can’t swim in the lakes

Now it’s hotter than hell

In a bed you won’t make

It’s not the lack of a sense

It’s called ambivalence

Up on the hill

Is the best real estate

Baby, just to get in

You have to sell off your faith

‘Cause in the valley below

There is crack and young girls

You don’t have to believe

What stays out of your world

It’s not the year of the gun

We don’t say it out loud

There are no headlines

When a black girl dies

It’s not the lack of a sense

It’s called ambivalence