OTTAWA — The Conservative government is cracking open a potentially contentious debate over tinkering with ‘O Canada.’
The Speech from the Throne promised to prod Parliament to assess if the national anthem should be made more gender-neutral. At issue is the English phrase “in all thy sons command” — which has drawn the ire of some Canadians, especially women’s groups.
“The Prime Minister has heard from some Canadians on this and I think it’s better to have a fulsome debate rather than just shuffling it off,” said Industry Minister Tony Clement, adding the debate will be founded on historical research and “learned discussions” to avoid distraction from a focus on the economy.
Clement said the issue may have become “more top of mind” as the anthem was sung repeatedly during the Olympics.
The earlier version of the anthem, written in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir, read: “true patriot love thou dost in us command.” The more familiar version was being used more widely by 1927, when it was used during the Diamond Jubilee of Confederation.
‘O Canada’ didn’t actually become Canada’s National Anthem until 1980 after the Canada Act had been passed and the Constitution had been repatriated.
NDP MP Irene Mathyssen welcomed the review, but warned it’s no panacea for all that prevents equality for women in Canada.
“They’re forgetting absolutely that equality is dependant on a whole number of other things that are missing from this throne speech,” she said, citing affordable housing and national child care as examples.
Andrew Cohen, president of the Historica-Dominion Institute, supports the idea of gender-neutral language but said the bigger issue is that many Canadians don’t even know the words of their national anthem beyond the first couple of lines.
“It’s a good idea if the anthem is considered unfair or inappropriate in certain clauses or stanzas, it’s a good idea to revisit it,” he said. “In principle we support modernizing the anthem if that is what it will take to better reflect the nature of Canada.”
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said any move to make the anthem more gender sensitive is a good thing, but suggested the Tories are going for gesture over substance.
“We’ve got some very important challenges and every time the government is asked to do something real, it does something symbolic,” he said. “There are lots of things to do for women that are more important than changing the words of the national anthem.”
— Files from Althia Raj and Elizabeth Thompson
kathleen.harris@sunmedia.ca
