The Canadian national anthem, “Oh Canada” was written in 1908 but they haven’t always been the same familiar words we’re used to singing.
The original lyrics were originally “thou dost in us command” before being changed to “in all thy son’s command” in 1913. A group of notable women want to change the lyric back to the original to make it more gender neutral.
The group contains former Canadian prime minister, Kim Campbell, and author, Margaret Atwood. The group is looking for a lyric change on the 100th anniversary that the lyrics were originally changed.
“The words ‘all thy sons command’ in the English national anthem suggests that only male loyalty is being invoked,” says Atwood. “Restoring these lyrics to gender-neutral is not only an easy fix to make our anthem inclusive for all Canadians, but it’s also long overdue.”
I do consider myself a feminist and while this would be a neat change, I don’t think it should be top priority. While women do have more rights in Canada than other countries, there are still plenty of sexist acts in this country.
Why don’t we make it a law to teach that we should treat both genders as equals? Why don’t we teach how slut shaming is wrong and about double standards in classrooms?
Personally, I’d rather see the line “God keep our land glorious and free” go than “in all thy son’s command.” I’m not religious and I’m more uncomfortable singing about God than a line that has male pronouns in it. It was the early 1900s, those times were very sexist and men were thought to be the “better gender.”
If you’re interested in the campaign, check out the website here.