NICOLE HALSETH — Over The Edge (The University of Northern British Columbia)

PRINCE GEORGE (CUP) —  Because gender equality is still a prominent issue worldwide, it’s no surprise that Canadian citizens are continuing to strive for this ideal. In fact, some of Canada’s most well-known women are calling for a change to Canada’s anthem in a new, online-based push for more inclusive lyrics.

The group — under the banner Restore Our Anthem — advocating for this change includes many prominent figures in Canadian society such as former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, well-known author Margaret Atwood, Senator Nancy Ruth and retired Senator Vivienne Poy. It also includes Sally Goddard, the mother of Nichola Goddard, who was the first female Canadian   soldier killed in a combat situation. They are encouraging Canadians to participate in the initiative by appealing to Prime Minister Harper’s government.

This push comes after a previous effort by Poy to change the lyrics was rejected in 2010 by the Canadian government. She first introduced a bill in Parliament regarding the possibility of revising the lyrics of the national anthem in 2002. In 2010, Prime Minister Harper consulted with Parliament on the issue but, after backlash from the Conservative Party, the bill was dropped. At the time, Prime Minister Harper’s spokesperson Dimitri Soudas stated, “We offered to hear from Canadians on this issue and they have already spoken loud and clear. They overwhelmingly do not want to open the issue.”

The group of women’s objection is largely over the line “in all thy sons command.” They suggest a change to this line in order to make it gender-neutral would better reflect the “the equality of all Canadians.” The group is advocating changing this line to “in all of us command” — a change they say is long overdue.

The current official lyrics of “O Canada,” in Atwood’s opinion, suggest that “only male loyalty is being invoked.” Additionally, in an article from the Globe and Mail, Ms. Goddard believes altering the lyrics “would recognize the heroes, leaders and teachers who have made Canada what it is today — regardless of their gender.”

This line has already been revised in the past. In 1913, “thou dost in us command” was changed to the current version: “in all thy sons command.” The advocacy group believes changing it to their proposed version would “have the same meaning” as the original version.

On their official website, the group states that “restoring the anthem to reflect its original lyrics is the simplest way to encapsulate the equality of all Canadians.”

Currently, the leader of the opposition in government, Thomas Mulcair of the New Democrat Party, has dismissed the new effort to change the lyrics. Mulcair stated that the anthem is “wonderful” as it is, and that “we seem to have agreed on the English and French versions as they are and I think that’s probably a good thing” according to an article from the National Post.

Another issue that has arisen within the discussion of changing our national anthem is the lack of secularism within the lyrics. One of the main groups in this effort is the Canadian Secular Alliance, which cites changing the lyrics as one of their core initiatives.

According to their official website, the group recommends that “the government should remove the reference to God from Canada’s national anthem, and return to the original words that existed prior to the introduction of the God-reference — “O Canada, glorious and free” instead of “God keep our land glorious and free.”

Beyond excluding those individuals who do not believe in any type of god, the current lyrics also exclude those with religious affiliations other than Christianity. Other religions may not be the documented majority throughout most of Canada, but they are vital in their communities and throughout Canada as a whole.

Canada continues to be a settlement destination for individuals from around the world, and from a wide variety of backgrounds. Many of these individuals will likely wish to express their national pride as Canadians in some manner. In many cases, it has been shown that those who are not born in a country but come to make it their home often identify very strongly with that national identity. Therefore, changing the lyrics would result in the secularization of national pride and allow all Canadians, regardless of religious views, the opportunity to express their patriotism.

There have been many arguments over the years for why the lyrics should remain as they are. Many believe that it is important to keep that historical tie in order to respect both Canada’s Christian heritage and the Christian-Canadians who contributed to building our country. Many also believe that it would be unprecedented to change the lyrics.

However, since the first original English lyrics were written in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir, they have gone through numerous alterations. These occurred before the anthem was adopted into the 1980 National Anthem Act. Both Restore Our Anthem and the CSA advocate changing certain lines back to the original lyrics, or changing them to better reflect the original lyrics as they were before adoption.

Though the English lyrics may include some religious mentions, the French lyrics are much more overtly religious. These can be seen in lyrics like: “as in thy arm ready to wield the sword, so also is it ready to carry the cross.” According to the Alliance website, it will take much more to revise the French lyrics because they cannot simply be reverted to the original version, as the English version can. They conclude that “this is a topic for a separate national debate.”

The debate about whether to change the lyrics of “O Canada” or not goes beyond simply a debate of semantics, and has very real social consequences. At least, it does according to the CSA. On their website, they state that “the mention of God in the anthem is often cited as evidence that Canada is a ‘Christian nation’, and used to argue for substantive public policies that undermine church-state separation … thus, seemingly ‘trivial’ issues of symbolism have a tendency to become relevant to highly non-trivial debates about government policy.”

They conclude that as a liberal democracy and a pluralistic country, Canada’s government should not take an official position on the existence of God, and whether or not organized religion has the right or ability to speak on that God’s behalf. They believe that all of Canada’s public institutions, including the national anthem, should reflect this.

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Graphic: Cody Schumacher/Graphics Editor