The Ottawa Senators are apologizing for an English-only version of O Canada.
The unilingual National Anthem was presented before Saturday night’s pre-season game between the Senators and Montreal Canadiéns at Canadian Tire Centre.
In a statement released late Sunday evening, Senators COO Nicholas Ruszkowski said he was “among the first to complain” about the English-only anthem.
Ruszkowski says the Senators “production team accidentally uploaded a English-only version of O Canada to the singer’s teleprompter, who therefore was not in a position to sing O Canada in French.”
Ruszkowski says it has always been the policy of the Senators to present a bilingual version of the National Anthem, adding “we are genuinely sorry for the mistake, and we can assure you that this will not happen again.”
Ruszkowski acknowledged in the letter that members of the Francophone community have raised concerns with him about the National Anthem.
The Senators host Chicago Thursday night at Canadian Tire Centre.
A message from Nicolas Ruszkowski, Chief Operating Officer : pic.twitter.com/aGFKfxycGC
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) October 1, 2018