Canadian Anthem to possibly change

[Kimbear 53]

While browsing the interwebz i came across an article that states our governement wants to change the words to our national anthem. Some say its due to the amount of female vs male winning ratio at the olympics.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/music/story/2010/03...ada-anthem.html

Peronsally, i think it could use some buffage, but overall I think we can be more concerned with other topics, n'est-ce pas?

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I'm surprised they're going after the "sons command" and not the reference to God. It seems like removing God from anything and everything civil is the trend these days.

Personally, I don't really care either way. There is definitely more important things to worry about on parliament's agenda these days, and I've never thought of the reference to sons to be sexist. I went to a high school called Notre Dame and we used to sing the theme song most of you probably know... "cheer cheer for old Notre Dame... blah blah" but there is a part that says, "while our loyal sons go marching onward to victory" Is that sexist too? I never really thought of it that way, no. I guess I see "sons" as somewhat gender neutral like referring to a mailman... mailmen can be male or female, but to me its still a mailman.

[Rhiannercakes 14]

Slow day indeed if they're picking on our national anthem.

I think it's good the way it is, I don't feel anything bad about the lyrics.

Even if it does get changed, I'll still sing it the old way WITH the two french verses, the way I was taught

PS: Pluto is still a planet... to me.

[Sprailenes 47]

I'd like them to change "glowing hearts" it always reminds me of ET.. or better yet keep it, I like that it reminds me of ET!

Ellliiiiioootttt...

[Kimbear 53]

Sprai..you crack me up sometimes I literally almost spewed tea out my nose lol.

and ya i sing it with the french..since i grew up in montreal. Huggle i'm like you..i dont see any gender issue..or i dont thikn about it. i still say postman etc. even if if it's a female. shrug. maybe we are just desensitized nowadays.

[trailmix 77]

Must be a slow day indeed.

It's like the Alberta government polling people on whether or not to change the license plates for cars. Leave them alone - it's a license plate, it looks nice - move on!!

Stuff like this always makes me ponder, which gov. employee has time to dream this stuff up and how many of them had time to discuss it.

[ashenflowers 5]

I think you ladies mean mail'person'. Ahem.

Also, I've been hearing about this on twitter, and tweeted (I'm so hip), that we should call it 'all our peeps command'. Apparently I'm not the only one who's suggested that. Then it turned into calling it 'Yo Canada!'. Which then turned into a suggestion (by me) to have one artist of every music genre rewrite the lyrics and see what we liked best. Country version, rap version, pop version, indie, classical... I think it'd be awesome.

[neiks 19]

Yep, not much going on in government today.... well, other than the 2010 budget.

[Pauley 2]

PS: Pluto is still a planet... to me.

Still my favorite Facebook group: "When I was your age, Pluto was a planet."

[Bern. 3]

Honestly, doesn't the government have anything better to do with their time? This is getting ridiculous.

[NBtoPitt 2]

I have to agree with Ignatieff's comments about this. Silly Conservatives.

[Andy and Kayla 45]

I like the anthem the way it is!

I'm in Ontario, but my elementary school played both versions (English and French) over the PA system, alternating every other day and our teacher got us to sing along every morning. We used to have the words for each on a big sheet of paper on the wall - I only wish I could go back now and listen to 28 first graders who hadn't started learning French yet (fourth grade) trying to read and sing the French version.

But no, I definitely would prefer them to keep it as it is - "sons' command" doesn't seem offensive to me, it's just Old English.

[Bern. 3]

This also reminds me of a PR in Canada from Trinidad, and although he has been a PR in Canada for 50 years, he is ''enraged''. All his children are citizens and have the full rights of any canadian, and the only reason he refuses to take the oath because he doesn't want to swear alligance to the queen.

[trailmix 77]

Marilyn mentioned in the Canadian money thread that they have decided not to change the anthem and I had read an article on it that was kind of interesting, well the reaction of the person who suggested it anyway, which answered my question about who has time to think about this stuff. Then again, Ruth might have a point, there may well be hatred against women, I just don't know that our Anthem reflects that.

The senator who came up with the idea, Ontario Conservative Nancy Ruth, said she was "surprised" and "disappointed" by the reversal.

Ruth, a proud feminist who was appointed by former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, said Friday she can't believe such a small adjustment has caused such a stir.

"If there's been such backlash, then this is another example, for me, of hatred against women."

Ruth, 68, said older women will not take kindly to Harper's decision to abandon the change.

"They are the ones that remember the fight for equality rights in the charter with Trudeau, so they remember all this stuff." she said. "If it's been pulled, it's an example of how much violence I think there is against women. This is such a relatively small thing to do."

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Tories+f...6854/story.html

I also think this article has quite the slant to it - in this small sample they have told us that Ruth is 68, a "proud feminist" - that Paul Martin appointed her and she was a Trudeau supporter.

Edited March 7, 2010 by trailmix

[Kimbear 53]

i just dont get it. can't they see most of the world has .... evolved ( the proper word escapes me atm) to the point where we dont care about trivial things like this anymore? i personally dont care about it, it's a word..whoopity doo. yes i thank the previous generations for making life easier for us women, however tbh. i'm of the old mentality of that i want to be in the kitchen cooking cleaning and taking care of kids while my husband is at work.

i'll continue this in another threat as it derails from the above. lol