“This Made Me Proud to be Canadian…” by Harry MacLean “This made me proud to be Canadian.” That’s the way mem- bers of the packed audience at the March 7 Karen Schuessler Singers Strong and Free concert, Wesley-Knox United Church, felt at the end of the evening when they left the concert venue. The concert began with O Canada , accompanied by the Wesley-Knox pipe organ and timpani. It continued with songs by Canadian composers including Larry Nickel’s Canadian Pacific , Gilles Vigneault’s Mon Pays , Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah , Stan Rogers’ Northwest Passage and Mary Ellen Carter , and Stompin’ Tom Conners’ The Hockey Song . Indigenous roots were recognized in Susan Aglukark’s O Siem , and Sherry Sewepegaham’s Miskanaw , especially commissioned in 2022 for the Karen Schuessler Singers’ 30th Anniversary. Guest artist Paul Mills, best known as producer of recordings by Stan Rogers and Sheri, Lois and Bram, brought the house down with Shelley Posen’s When I First Stepped in a Canoe . And our Canadian Armed Forces were recognized with Eleanor Daley’s In Memoriam . This was the Karen Schuessler Singers’ second-to last-concert. On Saturday, May 2, the choir will complete its amazing 33- year run with a final concert, a performance of its signature work, Paul Winters and Paul Halley’s Missa Gaia/Earth Mass . We hope you can be part of this very special evening.
Above: A strong men’s section. Right, top to bottom: A packed audience, joined by organ and timpani, opens the concert with ‘O Canada’; Paul Mills brings the house down with Shelley Posun’s ‘When I First Stepped in a Canoe’; Everything comes together as Karen speaks to the audience about the music. Photos by Sahara’s Cherian, Pixelesque Photography, Hamilton
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Wortley Villager April 2026 • Page 5
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