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Should Canada's anthem become gender neutral?
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper may seek to change the country’s national anthem “O Canada” by reverting to an
older “gender neutral” version.
The government will “ask Parliament to examine the original gender-neutral English wording of the national anthem,”
according to the text of the so-called Throne Speech given today to
open a new legislative session.
The present lyrics to the anthem include the line “True patriot love in all thy sons command,” while a 1908 poem on which
it’s based has the line “True patriot love thou dost in us command,”
according to the country’s Heritage Department.
(source)
What do you think? Should Canada change its anthem?
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Emily on -
I don't per se mind the version we're using today, but the old line sounds plausible.
However, I will say that if we make this change, I would like as well "God Keep our Land" to be changed back to the original line, which was another round of "Oh Canada". -
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Permalink Reply by Renee on -
I say yes. The fight song for Notre Dame includes the line, "While her loyal sons are marching onward to victory" which was fine when ND was an all-men's university. Now that it's coed, some have argued to change the line to "While her loyal sons and daughters march on to victory." I just don't see how they CAN'T change gendered lines of songs to a more equal version. What's the big deal? Oh, that's right. Patriarchy.
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Permalink Reply by Lisa on -
Right? The ONLY reason people can find is, "uh, it's tradition" which is a bullshit reason not to progress toward equality in any case, but here, tradition WAS gender neutral!
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Permalink Reply by James T on -
Well first I find it funny that conservative government that is against gay rights, abortion and making our immigration rules stricter would want to change our anthem. It is just political maneuver to distract Canadians from issues that matter.
'Tis proof our national anthem is terrible, when we have a debate over changing it.
For the record it was Robert Stanley Weir made the original lyrics and he added the religious aspect later on.
It is just a distraction done by our wonderful government that deviates from real women's issues, like day care funding cuts in this country.
Let the bleeding hearts go on and bleed over this issue, which does not matter.
The good thing about Canada is we gave the United States the greatest national anthem after the War of 1812 which was written in 1814. There has never been inane chatter about changing The Star Spangled Banner's archaic wording either.
People need to not be so sensitive and waste time on stupid issues like changing the anthem to gender neutrality or removing the religious context. If someone is that offended they're idiotic.
I'd be more offended that a government took out lesbian & gay rights out of an immigration official guide and claimed it was a simple error; which is clearly not the truth, a MP's homophobic views.
Stick to the real issues that matter not some crap lyric in a national anthem.
Let the bleeding hearts continue to bleed over this "issue". I'm sure a lot of things offend them. -
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Permalink Reply by Lisa on
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Hey James, I recommend a read of this post about why little things do, in fact, matter very much.
Excerpt:
"The idea that feminism should be kept under glass, broken only in case of a "real" and "serious" emergency, is predicated on the erroneous assumption that "the little things" happen in a void, as do, presumably, the "real" and "serious" things, when, in reality, they are interwoven strands of the same rope. And as soon as one begins to judge the worthiness of feminists' attention on a sliding scale, even generally-regarded "serious issues" like equal pay are dwarfed by global concerns like sex trafficking or government-sanctioned use of rape as a tool of war. It doesn't have to be one or the other—feminists can multi-task.
And, in a very real way, ignoring "the little things" in favor of "the big stuff" makes the big stuff that much harder to eradicate, because it is the pervasive, ubiquitous, inescapable little things that create the foundation of a sexist culture on which the big stuff is dependent for its survival. It's the little things, the constant drumbeat of inequality and objectification, that inure us to increasingly horrible acts and attitudes toward women.
Irrespective of intent, the recommendation to "ignore the little stuff," so often intertwined with accusations of looking for things about which to get offended, is not just ill-advised, but counter to the ultimate goal of full equality. It's like a knife in my gut when I see feminists accusing other feminists of "hurting the cause" by focusing on "the little stuff," because that's It—that's the stuff, that's the fertile soil in which everything else takes root and from whence everything else springs, that's the way that the fundamental idea that women are not equal to men is conveyed over and over and over again." -
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Permalink Reply by James T on
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Never did I say that equal pay is not an important issue. I don't understand why you are equating / suggesting that because I don't believe the sons comment in O Canada should be removed that I am against things like equal pay or other feminist causes.
To change sons in O Canada is a petty little thing to do and really it doesn't take away from the full goal of equality.
Also it is a complete waste of time. Why not use that money elsewhere that is more important like for day care, abortions et cetera.
Equal pay is important and so is women that are trafficked. Never should those issues be ignored.
However, a stupid issue like O Canada with the sons lyric should be ignored and thankfully is.
I'm just curious what is your opinion on the whole war in Afghanistan? -
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Permalink Reply by Renee on
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I think the point Lisa was trying to make was completely missed. Just because the language of the anthem may seem insignificant to some, to others, the very fundamental use of gendered language is absolutely hurtful. Why am I excluded from a song because my gender isn't good enough to change the lyrics to something that actually speaks to my citizenship as a woman? "It's just a word" may seem a good defense but WORDS are what make up LANGUAGE which is what makes up a CULTURE which defines exactly how we EXIST. Personally, I don't want to exist in a sexist world that can't include me, a tax-paying, law-abiding, anthem-singing citizen in the lyrics of that anthem.
How the change is brought about DOES raise some questions -- funding better used elsewhere for one. But this is an issue that should be discussed because it is a fundamental issue that perpetuates patriarchy. -
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Permalink Reply by Lisa on
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I didn't say that you said equal pay wasn't an issue. My point is that we can always say "issue X isn't as worthy of our attention as issue Y." But that doesn't make issue X worthless or petty.
These little things are what make up the sexist culture (as Renee better explains above) and the sexist culture is what is needed for the big huge "more important" to exist and live. -
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Permalink Reply by Renee on
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...The Star Spangled Banner doesn't use any pronouns. Sure, some of the "o'ers" and run on sentences are a little archaic, but at least it's not offending any of its citizens.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on -
While I disagree in that I think this issue does matter and that "little things" such as excluding half the population from the National anthem are far more insidious and harmful than you are giving them credit for, I did think the same thing when I first heard about this.
Really Stephen Harper? You've slashed how many programs affecting women, and THIS is what you're going to try to focus on to appease those pesky feminists and perhaps distract folks from the budget? Not to mention your penchant for prorogation or the detainee scandal?
Nice try.
So sure, if I ran the zoo it's not the first thing I'd go about remedying, but that in no way negates the importance of this issue. -
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