Canada Includes “All of Us”

by | January 30, 2016

There’s another piece of good news from another Liberal MP. An article in the Guardian, tweeted by BC Humanists, announces “Canada Considers Changing National Anthem to Include Country’s Women

Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger introduced a bill on Wednesday to change two words of O Canada so it recognises the country’s women as well as its men.

If passed, the third line of the anthem will change from “True patriot love in all thy sons command” – to “all of us command”.

While this is great news, as BC Humanists’ tweet suggests, “Perhaps it’s time to drop the god bit too…” Of course it is; in fact, it’s past time. However, until someone introduces a bill to remove God from the anthem, let’s celebrate the fact that Canada’s national anthem may soon acknowledge that Canada includes women.

H/T: Thank you to @BCHumanist for being on top of the news that interests Canadian Atheist and Canadian atheists

7 thoughts on “Canada Includes “All of Us”

  1. AtheistsMeow

    By all means, let’s get rid of the ‘gawd’ thing, & the ‘thy’ thing, & any/all of that antiquated wording.

    Reply
  2. Joe

    Leave the blasphemy law on the books… Because song lyrics are the important thing to think of…sigh.

    The poor grammar actually hurts me more than the silly political correctness of this, but I suppose if the libs stick to trivial issues, like song lyrics… The next sponsorship scandal won’t happen until at least after the next election. Thank gods.

    Reply
    1. Veronica Abbass Post author

      You are so right about the blasphemy law. Atheist and secular organizations need to find an MP willing to introduce a bill to repeal the blasphemy law.

      Reply
  3. Randy

    “However, until someone introduces a bill to remove God…”

    No, I see no reason to wait. If we’re changing it, let’s change it right.

    We should go back to the original version, which was equal, and had no gods in it.

    O Canada! Our home, our native land.
    True patriot love thou dost in us command.
    We see thee rising fair, dear land,
    The true North strong and free,
    And stand on guard, O Canada,
    We stand on guard for thee.
    O Canada! O Canada!
    O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
    O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

    (Some might say that immigrants aren’t “native” here, but we could easily change “our” to “or”.)

    The third (final) verse does include “stalwart sons and gentle maidens” which is quaint and stereotypical, but nobody ever sings past the first verse anymore anyway.

    Reply

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