Councillor wants O Canada lyrics amended to be ‘gender inclusive’
Posted August 22, 2014 3:04 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Toronto city councillor wants the federal government to amend O Canada lyrics so they’re more gender neutral.
Ceta Ramkhalawansingh, the interim councillor for Trinity-Spadina after Adam Vaughan won a seat for the Liberals in a recent federal byelection, is proposing a motion at next week’s council meeting for Ottawa to change the anthem’s lyrics to be “gender inclusive” and include all Canadians.
“To further recognize the rights of women to be represented in all aspects of society, women’s organizations and civil rights groups across Canada have endorsed the ‘Sing All Of Us’ campaign which seeks to substitute the words ‘our sons’ with ‘of us’ in O Canada,” the motion states.
Ramkhalawansingh isn’t the only one who wants the lyrics changed. There’s also an online campaign urging the Harper government to change the English Canadian anthem to be gender neutral.
RestoreOurAnthem.ca, which is backed by such notable Canadian women as acclaimed author Margaret Atwood, former prime minister Kim Campbell and Sen. Nancy Ruth, wants to amend “in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command.”
The group says the original anthem was amended in 1913 to “in all thy sons command” from “thou dost in us command” for no documented reason and believe its proposed change would reflect Judge Robert Weir’s original lyrics. The proposed change also reflects amendment recommendations made in 1986 and 2002, the group said.
Click here to learn more about the campaign.
Ramkhalawansingh’s motion will be considered at a council meeting next Monday.
Should the lyrics be amended? Share your thoughts in the comments.
