Former top defence official warns Canadians against booing U.S. anthem

Gen. (Ret’d) Wayne Eyre discusses Canada's military preparedness, sovereignty and the need to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

The country’s former top soldier is warning Canadians against booing the U.S. national anthem at hockey games, stressing that Canada should not be “burning bridges” with the United States.

Retired Ge

n. Wayne Eyre, the nation’s former chief of defence staff, said Canada should not “blindly discard existing alliances,” even if the one with the U.S. “becomes more transactional.”

“So with that reality, we need to be careful about burning bridges with those who are still friendly, about evoking widescale nationalism, by not considering the population as separate from the administration, by booing national anthems in hockey games and turning those who are friendly to us against us,” Eyre said in speech during an event at the University of Ottawa on June 2. The event discussed diversifying Canada’s security and defence partnerships.

Eyre’s speech was first reported by the National Post.

Eyre’s comments come as Canada-U.S. relations have experienced turmoil with trade conflicts, tariffs and U.S. President Donald Trump’s musings of making Canada the 51st U.S. state.

After Trump first referenced Canada as the 51^st state, Canadian sports fans booed the U.S. anthem at several home games, including the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, as well as Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays and the NBA’s Toronto Raptors.

The trend of booing the U.S. anthem reached a fever pitch during the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off in February 2025, when Canada faced the United States in Montreal. After a chorus of boos, three fights broke out in the first nine seconds of the game.

In addition, Trump said Wednesday that he’s not looking to renew the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, though Canada intends to do so. Trump said his country doesn’t need anything that Canada or Mexico has. Negotiations between the U.S. and Canada have been going on for months as the three countries face a July 1 deadline to either renew the free-trade agreement for 16 years or commit to annual reviews.

Eyre suggested that the Canada-U.S. relationship will be “challenging” to navigate.

“And I, for one, do not believe it will go back to where it was or where we thought it was,” he said. “So to coexist, I believe we need to make ourselves as indispensable as possible.”

Eyre also warned against pivoting to China in the speech at the University of Ottawa and in an interview on CTV’s Question Period that aired last June 7.

“We are neighbours and we share a continent and that’s not going away,” Eyre told host Vassy Kapelos.

With files from CTV Question Period’s Brennan MacDonald, CTV News’ Hunter Crowther and Luca Caruso-Moro, and The Canadian Press