Canada’s National Anthem Found Sexist, Should be Updated – Liberal MP

Canadian flags line the road around Parliament Hill during the National Day of Honour ceremony in Ottawa May 9, 2014. The event marks the end of Canada's military mission in Afghanistan. Reuters

A Liberal MP is pushing that the lyrics of Canada's national anthem badly needs updating because it is sexist.

Mauril Bélanger, MP, Ottawa-Vanier, specifically wants to take out the words "thy sons" from the national anthem, saying if there are sons, there should also be daughters that must be recognized in the song.

In his bill lodged in the House of Commons, Bélanger wants the wordings of the national anthem gender-neutral. As such, from "O Canada, our home and native land, True patriot love, In all thy sons command," he said it should be "O Canada, our home and native land, True patriot love, In all of us command."

"I call it gender-inclusive," Ottawa Citizen quoted Bélanger. "To me it is representative of the evolution of our society."

He further noted the bill only seeks to change the English version only of the national anthem.

If Bélanger's bill is passed, this would mark the third time the lyrics of Canada's national anthem had been changed. The original lyrics in 1908 were "thou dost in us command." It was changed to "in all thy sons command" in 1914.

"You can let sleeping dogs lie, but evolution and progress and recognition of rights and equality does not come by doing nothing," the Liberal MP was quoted by CTV News.

In 2010, the government flaunted to change the lyrics of the national anthem after Canadian women won 14 medals in the just concluded Winter Olympics in Vancouver that year. The medals of Canadian female delegation were three more than their male teammates.

But the Conservative government immediately pulled back the proposal within 48 hours after they first flaunted it.

But then Ontario Conservative senator Nancy Ruth said the issue just lurks in the background. "The cause is never lost, as is any cause for women's equality," she said. "After all, we have women soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, or did."

The Ottawa Citizen cited as example the Austrian legislators who changed the lyrics of their country's national anthem in December 2011 to make them gender-neutral. The first verse, "homeland of great sons" was changed to "homeland of great daughters and sons."

Listen to O Canada below.