Today, July 1, is Canada Day, the national day of the North American country. It commemorates the date in 1867 when the three colonies of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and United Canadas were joined into a single dominion in the British Empire with the passing of the British North America Act.
In light of today, the Aussieivision team has ranked the Eurovision entries with a connection to Canada.
Before we reveal the results, let's take a look at the entries the team ranked.
Eurovision Entrants with a Canadian Connection
There a ten Eurovision singers with a connection to the North American nation. They are:
Sherisse Laurence - 'L'amour de ma vie' (Luxembourg 1986, 3rd place 117 points)
Lara Fabian - 'Croire' (Luxembourg 1988, 4th place 90 points)
Céline Dion - 'Ne partez pas sans moi' (Switzerland 1988, 1st place 137 points)
Annie Cotton - 'Moi, tout simplement' (Switzerland 1993, 3rd place 148 points)
Natasha St. Pier - 'Je n'ai que mon âme' (France 2001, 4th place 143 points)
Rykka - 'The Last of Our Kind' (Switzerland 2016, 18th place 28 points, Semi Final 2)
Katerine Duska - 'Better Love' (Greece 2019, 21st place 74 points)
Ester Peony - 'On a Sunday' (Romania 2019, 13th place 71 Points - Semi Final 2)
Vasil - 'Here I Stand' (North Macedonia 2021, 15th place 23 Points - Semi Final 1)
La Zarra - 'Évidemment' (France 2023, 16th place 104 points)
The most recent entrant with a Canadian connection, La Zarra, represented France at this year's Eurovision. Her real name is Fatima-Zahra Hafdi and she was born in Montreal, Canada on August 25, 1987 to parents of Moroccan descent.
You can find out more about the Canadian connections of the other contestants in this previous Aussievision article.
Now let's see how the Aussievision team has ranked the competitors.
Aussievision Team Ranking
Nine Aussievision contributors awarded points to their 10 favourite songs in the same manner as per Eurovision voting style, and the results were:
10. Rykka - 'The Last of Our Kind' (Switzerland 2016) - 26 points
Highs: 7 points from Samuel
Lows: 1 point from Fleur, Steven, Emma and Dale
9. Sherisse Laurence - 'L'amour de ma vie' (Luxembourg 1986) - 29 points
Highs: 6 points from Dale
Lows: 1 point from Hugo and Kiel, 2 points from Samuel
8. Lara Fabian - 'Croire' (Luxembourg 1988) - 35 points
Highs: 6 points from Craig and Steven
Lows: 1 points from Hayley, 2 points from Kiel
7. Vasil - 'Here I Stand' (North Macedonia 2021) - 41 points
Highs: 8 points from Hayley, 7 points from Kiel
Lows: 2 points from Emma, 3 points from Craig and Fleur
6. Ester Peony - 'On a Sunday' (Romania 2019) - 46 points
Highs: 8 points from Dale and Fleur
Lows: 1 point from Craig, 2 points from Steven
5. Katerine Duska - 'Better Love' (Greece 2019) - 53 points
Highs: 12 points from Kiel, 10 points from Craig
Lows: 1 point from Samuel, 2 points from Fleur and Dale
"This was such a fantastically composed and produced track. Not to mention its bombastic chorus and the build-up during its final verse. In a field crowded by other slick ballads in 2019 (notably winner Duncan Lawrence and 'Arcade'), this could have been Greece's best performing entry for a while in another year." ~ Kiel
"The staging is too busy, but I still have a lot of fondness for this Florence + the Machine-esque number from 2019. Katerine Duska brings an unusually deep and husky vocal to the track, and there's an unapologetic femininity to the whole thing which just works, even if half the backing dancers in Tel Aviv probably needed a redundancy package. I'll admit to having rose-tinted glasses here, but something about 'Better Love' still appeals to me." ~ Craig
4. Annie Cotton - 'Moi, tout simplement' (Switzerland 1993) - 54 points
Highs: 12 points from Samuel, 10 points from Dale
Lows: 2 points from Hayley and Hugo, 3 points from Emma
"Such a catchy, anthemic song with an excellent orchestral arrangement. Annie absolutely rocked it at the age of seventeen, and was totally robbed 1993. Had she performed later (she was fourth on) and maybe performed in English, I could see her challenging Ireland’s Niamh and UK’s Sonia more." ~ Samuel
"A young fresh faced Annie gave a fantastic performance at a great contest in 1993. To finish third behind Niamh and Sonia was quite the achievement with a simple but effective hooky song." ~ Dale
3. Natasha St. Pier - 'Je n'ai que mon âme' (France 2001) - 70 points
Highs: 10 points from Emma, Fleur, Hayley and Samuel
Lows: 3 points from Kiel, 7 points from Dale and Hugo
"THIS is how you do a ballad at Eurovision! Dramatic, big vocals - how did this song not win the completion?" ~ Hayely
"What's not to love? Natasha nails this vocal and I love the addition of English at the end. One of the best ballad performances at Eurovision." ~ Emma
"I don’t often go for ballads but I enjoy this song. I also love that in true Canadian fashion- it’s bilingual. Honestly, I like the build up of this song and Natasha’s voice suits it perfectly." ~ Fleur
"A haunting, romantic, sensual ballad. British commentator Terry Wogan called it “the best song by a mile” that year, and I concur. Despite the ginormous Danish stage that year, her incredible voice matched it in size. Shame there was limited juries that year because I could see them absolutely loving this." ~ Samuel
2. La Zarra - 'Évidemment' (France 2023) - 83 points
Highs: 12 points from Hayley, Hugo and Fleur, 10 points from Steven and Kiel
Lows: 5 points from Dale, 6 points from Samuel
"I know it’s recent but I absolutely love this song. I was bought up on Euro disco and this ticks all the boxes for me. It deserved so much more than 16th place." ~ Fleur
"This was so slick, and La Zarra was rightly miffed earlier this year when Evidenmment failed to fire as much as we thought it would when the results came out. Classy disco that was oh so French - even though she was technically Canadian!" ~ Kiel
"Maybe some recency bias, but La Zarra is an icon, a great vocalist and Évidemment is funky and amazing!" ~ Hugo
"I know this is a very recent song but from the moment I heard it, it made it to my very coveted best of playlist. The song is an absolute banger and La Zarra is an icon. Deserved better - way better in the 2023 competition - total suave disco and I am here for it." ~ Hayely
"Disco? Tick. Diva? Tick! Catchy melody and beat? TICK!! I remain genuinely baffled as to why this didn’t perform better in Liverpool and at least make the lefthand side of the scoreboard. Vive la Zarra!" ~ Steven
1. Céline Dion - 'Ne partez pas sans moi' (Switzerland 1988) - 85 points
Highs: 12 points from Craig, Steven, Emma and Dale, 10 points from Hugo
Lows: 5 points from Hayley, 6 points from Fleur
"It is the obvious choice for a reason. A superior song and performance on this list, Celine's outfit may not have looked the part (though it's now kind of iconic), but she certainly sounded it." ~ Dale
"Why does Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi get my 12 points? Well, it’s easily the best entry by a Canadian performer - Céline’s live vocal is pretty much flawless - and the song has an upbeat and catchy melody interspersed with softer, quieter moments that let Ms Dion’s voice shine. In a word: parfait." ~ Steven
"Who could have guessed what a global superstar Celine would go on to become a few years after this performance. Her vocals are flawless and she sings with such conviction...a worthy winner of the competition for sure!" ~ Emma
"What more needs to be said!? Queen Céline is amazing and who doesn’t love Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" ~ Hugo
"Quite simply one of the best Eurovision winners of all time, Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi is held together by its soaring chorus and a note-perfect performance Céline Dion. The songwriting is sleek and, in an era where the 80s are cool again, the production is less off-puttingly dated than one might expect. Further, while her stage outfit may be an eyesore, Céline's charisma takes this to the next level and guaranteed this one a place in the Eurovision history books. Add it to the list of songs that I need do at karaoke some time!" ~ Craig
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So Celine squeaks out a two point victory with the Aussievision team, in a manner very similar to her one point win at Eurovision 1988. Talk about déjà-vu!
We wish all our Canadian readers and followers a very happy Canada Day.
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