View from the Cheap Seats is kind of an extension of the newsroom. Whenever our three regular reporters, Calvin Daniels, Thom Barker and Randy Brenzen are in the building together, it is frequently a site of heated debate. This week: Should the lyrics to O Canada be changed to reflect the evolution of Canadian society?
Fail
A national anthem should more than anything be a song which is inclusive of all citizens.
‘O Canada’ fails that simple litmus test.
That said, it is not surprising given the age of the song.
“The song was originally commissioned by Lieutenant Governor of Quebec Théodore Robitaille for the 1880 Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day ceremony; Calixa Lavallée wrote the music as a setting of a French Canadian patriotic poem composed by poet and judge Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The lyrics were originally in French and translated into English in 1906,” details Wikipedia. “Robert Stanley Weir wrote in 1908 another English version, which is the official and most popular version, one that is not a literal translation of the French. Weir’s lyrics have been revised twice, taking their present form in 1980, but the French lyrics remain unaltered. “O Canada” had served as a de facto national anthem since 1939, officially becoming Canada’s national anthem in 1980 when the Act of Parliament making it so received Royal Assent and became effective on July 1 as part of that year’s Dominion Day celebration.”
Few things created more than a century ago manage to hold their complete relevance today.
Fewer still manage to smoothly go through translation from one language to another without something being lost, or added in the translation.
And so it was the case with our anthem.
Weir’s original lyrics from 1908 contained no religious references and used the phrase “thou dost in us command” before they were changed by Weir in 1914 to read “in all thy sons command”. In 1926, a fourth verse of a religious nature was added.
Throwing religious overtones into the anthem might have been acceptable a century ago.
Today, a forward thinking Canada should have grown past religion having any place in our anthem, or for that matter in politics at all. Christian blessings of new Council’s, or references to the Christian God do a disservice to the growing number of Canadians of other faiths, or no faith at all.
You do not need to be a Christian to be a proud Canadian, and you should not have to reference a Christian slant when singing the anthem.
And there are other issues with ‘O Canada’ too.
As far back as 1990, Toronto City Council voted 12 to 7 in favour of recommending to the Canadian government that the phrase “our home and native land” be changed to “our home and cherished land” and that “in all thy sons command” be partly reverted to “in all of us command.” At the time TO Councillor Howard Moscoe said the words native land were not appropriate for the many Canadians who were not native-born and that the word sons implied “that women can’t feel true patriotism or love for Canada.”
Moscoe hit the head on those points rather well.
Senator Vivienne Poy criticized the English lyrics of the anthem as being sexist and she introduced a bill in 2002 proposing to change the phrase “in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command.” Her suggested replacement may be awkward, but some should not feel real good about the wording as is. Yes the male inference comes from the era it was written, but that is exactly why a redo is needed.
The anthem has been tweaked before, and now to be relevant and fair to all, needs a definite overhaul.
— Calvin Daniels
Much ado
For some reason there are people that feel the Canadian national anthem should be changed.
Some feel the word ‘God’ should be stricken from the lyrics while others feel it is simply time for a completely new anthem. Something current, something up beat and distinctly Canadian.
I, however, feel that the anthem, or at least the English version, should remain untouched. I may not be religious but I think the word ‘God’ fits well in the anthem.
Instead, I believe the French version of the anthem should change. Don’t get me wrong, I love the French Canadian national anthem. It sounds amazing, especially as the French language is beautiful itself. In fact, I think the line ‘Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!’ sounds ridiculously wonderful.
But with that being said, it needs to change. Why? Simply because it’s completely different than the English version. Not just a little bit. Completely.
After the initial ‘O Canada’ nothing remains the same. Sure, many Canadians aren’t bilingual and wouldn’t know that the words aren’t a direct translation, but still. Shouldn’t they be?
After all, Quebec isa Canadian province. Therefore it should have the exact same national anthem.
So to wrap it up, I firmly believe that both versions – French and English – should be the same. There is no reason for one country to have two separate national anthems.
— Randy Brenzen
Regression
My gut instinct with the question of what to do about the national anthem is to scrap it and start over. It’s just always seems kind of lame to me.
I realize, however, that there is a lot of sentimentality attached to this song, as there is of anything that has become emblematic of a nation.
One thing that we like to think is emblematic of Canada is inclusiveness.
Unfortunately, the lyrics of the anthem are emblematic of exclusion, of non-Christians and women to be precise.
The crazy thing about it is that this is not the result of it being just a very old song that has never been updated.
In fact, the original version was almost perfect. The line ‘in all thy sons command’ which has raised the ire of feminists (of both genders) was originally the gender-neutral ‘thou dost in us command.’ And, up until 1926, there was no reference to God whatsoever.
Although there are those that feel like traditions must be written in stone, it does not have to be so. Society changes and so should its symbols. I always wanted to believe that change is progressive, but frequently it is and has been regressive as in the case of the O Canada.
In 1990, Toronto City Council adopted a resolution by a vote of 12-7 recommending that the federal government make two simple changes that I fully support. ‘Our home and native land,’ would become ‘Our home and cherished land’ thus being inclusive of new Canadians. And ‘In all thy sons command’ would become ‘In all of us command,’ making the anthem gender-neutral again.
That only leaves stripping the reference to God. The national anthem should be for all Canadians not just the Christian majority. The second biggest group, by the way, is atheist/agnostic at nearly a quarter of the population.
— Thom Barker
