We were singing from the gender neutral, secular, bilingual words… … I am sorry it was misunderstood that I was checking my Blackberry… But my colleagues needed to see the words …
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
O Canada
glorious and free!
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
This is without question, the dumbest thing I’ve yet heard of. Your logic is that it “offends” some people? Like who? When PM Harper looked at doing something like this, the whole country flipped out. Now you think it is ok just because you decide to do it? If you can’t sing O Canada as it is written, I have a suggestion for a song you can sing for those that find it “offensive” this is not sung at least 50% of the time at sporting events and gatherings.
In days of yore,
From Britain’s shore,
Wolfe the dauntless hero came,
And planted firm Old England’s flag
On Canada’s fair domain!
Here may it wave,
Our boast, our pride,
And joined in love together,
The Thistle, Shamrock, Rose entwine,
The Maple Leaf forever!
The Maple Leaf, our emblem dear. The Maple leaf forever!
God save our Queen and heaven bless,
The Maple Leaf forever!
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Thanks For the Laugh, now back to work Carlyn, you only have 126 more days this year, please leave the Anthem alone , GET BACK TO WORK
Just one more reason I will NEVER vote Liberal. I am a 50-something female,and am sick to death of the Libs trying to pander to women for votes.We are NOT that stupid.
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Since when is removing misogynist lyrics “pandering”? I certainly don’t think this a grab for votes. Just consider the backlash that changes have evoked in the Canadian public in the past! You would have to be a pretty silly person to think that the goal of this is win votes when past attempts have been met with contempt and ridicule.
It is clearly an attempt (although, I think it can be refined) to have our anthem reflect the diversity of Canada and the respect we have for our fellow Canadians.
Do we really need to acknowledge a god that not everyone worships in our national anthem? No.
Do we really need lines like “In all thy sons command”? No.
It is time for the national anthem to change for the better. Why not start here?
And before anyone screams “Liberal!” at me, I am a conservative. So none of that.
I wholeheartedly support an inclusive anthem for all Canadians. Thanks Ms. Bennett for this version, I hope you will sponsor a bill to make this our official anthem.
I mean really, this can’t be real.
Seriously????
I agree with so many others. Total disgrace and you should be ashamed of this.
Leave the National Anthem as is. Have you politicians learnt nothing seeing as changing it was rejected by the public in the recent years.
I have traditionally supported Liberal but after this I think I might have to reconsider if this is the quality of representation in the government.
Liberal history update:
Albert Einstein was quoted as saying “The lack of a God doesnt play dice with the universe”
“Protégera” means “will protect”, and with the subject of that verb (“ta valeur”) removed, it makes no sense. May I suggest “Protégerons” (“let us protect”)?
By the way, thanks for giving our local radio host and francophobe Nick Vandergragt (see above) something to fulminate about this morning.
Ms. Bennett, this is greatly disappointing and regrettable. The words to the anthem are not yours to be rewrite; they represent years and years of rich Canadian history. My immigrant family is very proud and attached to our current anthem and you should be too.
Also, as an elected lawmaker, you should take the effort to memorize the lyrics in French. We pay you a lot of money to do your job. Rewriting the anthem on your Blackberry is not one of them.
Sorry, I slipped an extra “r” in there… make that “Protégeons”. There goes the rhythm.
Wow, I think you nailed it. good going and the best of luck.
Really? have you nothing better to do? I am a fifty one year old woman and sick of politicians wasting their time on items like this. Leave it alone and do something good with your position and time, something worthwhile. Liberals in general are going downhill fast and you just gave the toboggan another push……………….
Changing the national anthem that’s right up there… yep great idea, it’s the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night and the first thing I think about when my feet touch the floor in the morning. “When are our liberal defenders going to kick God out of the national anthem and make it transgendered inclusive?” Never mind the war in Afghanistan, establishing Canadian sovereignty in the North, the flood of unwanted and illegal immigrants who are trying to change our values and traditions. Nope, I want that national anthem to exclude God and include everbody else. Pathetic, embarrassing, infantile. Ms Bennet give your head a shake and remember WHY your bosses (read the electorate) put you in Ottawa.
I am not one of those Tory hacks who are probably getting paid to crap all over this blog; I am a long-standing Liberal activist.
And I am really, really disappointed that some Liberal MPs have chosen to take up an unimportant subject that will surely backfire in the polls. Everyone knows by now how much heat Harper took for attempting to modify the national anthem.
The anthem is a historical piece of art that has roots in a different time in society. The differences in lyrics between English and French reflect this unique dynamic that laid the foundation of Canada. If anyone considers the English anthem offensive — and that’s a big IF, since there have been no complaints even among Liberal members — they can sing it in French, which is still officially the Canada anthem.
With all due respect, please stop stirring up attention over inane matters such as this. Focus on the plenty of ammunition we have against the Conservatives over their massive deficit, reckless spending, and cuts to core programs.
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O’ Canada is long overdue for a change that better reflects an ever changing society.
Invisible gods do not keep Canada glorious and free so replace “God” with “We” because that’s the reality.
if you want to change it why not go something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjiwBwBL4Qo it has history and it sure sounds a lot better then,…..what you song. If the anthem goes to that I will make sure my kids turn their back on the flag everyday at school.
What arrant silliness is your frivolous meddling with our national anthem.
Rather than a bold new advance in political correctness, I sense here a stale throwback to mindless Trudeaumania.
I think removing the word GOD is a good idea. There should be no reference to GOD outside of anyone’s mosque, church or synagogue in modern society. (May have been acceptable 100′s of years ago but we have advanced past such stories) Religion is personal belief and has no place in our country today.
To take it one step further if GOD is to have no place in our country then no one should be ever be able to use “their” religious beliefs to gain any special privilege. (ie. Turbans, kirpans, hijabs) That alone should stifle most Liberal causes.
I am a veteran, British birth, long-time conservative.
The O Canada I learned as a newcomer to this country was secular. There was no mention of God, at least in the English-language version.
Some Liberal named Trudeau, I believe, arbitrarily changed the lyrics one dark night with no public discussion or warning. Suddenly we found ourselves sounding a lot like those people to the south of us.
(By the way, Glenn Beck aside, I don’t think God is actually mentioned in their anthem either, but then they have that other bloody awful screeching thing they use at sports events.)
So thank you for trying to take my anthem, and my country, back to where it belongs, the secular world of reality. One more reason not to vote conservative any longer.
A secular society is the very best safeguard of freedom, not only of conscience and religion, but of everything else.
As a born and raised strong Liberal family voter, I find it offensive and insulting that you wish to change the words of our national anthem. You spit in the eye of every veteran and soldier who has served or died for this great country, who has sang our song with pride. So you want to make our national anthem gender neutral, secular and bilingual, all I can say is if you don’t like it, leave the room when it’s being sung. Are you an athiest also? What is next on your agenda, are you planning on changing our flag as well? Upon hearing of your plans to change our national anthem, I just want you to know you and your party have finally lost another Liberal voter. I’m tired of trying to defend your stupid, out of touch plans for this great country. If you want to change this country, then I suggest you move to Quebec, join the parti quebecois, and you can then try to make all the changes you want in destroying this beautiful country of ours.
Let me make it clear that I am not in any way a supporter of the Conservative Party, and that I have no use whatsoever for Stephen Harper. But you have got to be kidding. I am a feminist, attend Buddhist meditation retreats rather than a church, and am working on my French. And I am beyond offended by what you have done, only immature and insecure people think that ‘in all they sons command’ is some kind of slight against women, or feel all references to God must be stamped out in order to make everyone feel included. Everyone will never feel included in anything, that is human nature, trying to please everyone results in pleasing no one. This is a stupid and petty waste of time. Get to work. At this rate I am going to be dead before the bloody Conservatives are defeated. Who knew a liberal could piss me off as much as Harper!
don’t you dare.
I am a young female who usually votes liberal, but this is shameful and embarassing. please be aware of what matters to Canadians most: healthcare, education, affordable housing, etc.
not this incredible waste of resources.
You are a civil servant, no? That means your job is to represent the people and work on issues that are important to us? You are not doing that at all. Perhaps you should be fired. Get to work on making change on real issues, or we will go Egyptian on you.
So poverty is solved, everyone is being paid fairly for the work they do?
Children are no longer starving or being abused by parents who are subjects of substance control?
World wide, we no longer have War and Starvation, all nations get along?
If not – WHY WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS?
Please, we need politicians who take their jobs seriously, and this was a sad attempt at “popularity” making the Conservatives look like they are doing an awesome job.
If you all want to lose seats, then keep it up – otherwise apologize and declare your focus on helping the poor!!
I am SO sick and tired of people tearing our Canadian traditions apart. LEAVE OUR NATIONAL ANTHEM ALONE! It is one of the last things we can truly call ours! The Flag and the National Anthem are not up for change! EVER! Many fathers and SONS fought and died for our great country and I feel like I honour them and their sacrifice each and every time I sing the anthem. If you are truly a proud Canadian, then leave this alone and get to work on issues that REALLY matter Carolyn!
Ms. Bennett you suggest ‘inclusiveness’ and not wanting to ‘offend’ would warrant a rewrite of our anthem. If these were truly viable reasons, you might want to take note of the great many Canadian voices who are certainly quite ‘offended’ by your idea, including Liberal supporters. Are you not concerned that they have taken ‘offence’ to your proposal? Your apparent lack of consideration for them suggest that the justification of ‘offending’ is simply a guise for advancing a narrow ideology.
Aside from the attempt to revise and jettison our nation’s historical theistic foundation, ‘excluding’ God from our anthem would at the same time also serve to ‘exclude’ the overwhelming majority of today’s Canadians who hold a theistic worldview. You can not claim ‘inclusiveness’ by excluding those who hold a god as sovereign. Again, the use of ‘inclusiveness’ seems to be a smokescreen for something more ideologically narrow.
Some of the comments in this forum even go as far as to suggest that ‘freedom of speech’ and other rights be limited for theists. This type of undemocratic rhetoric is quite frightening, but seems quite revealing and consistent with those who serve to advance an anti-theistic worldview in our society.
Ms. Bennett, I ask that you consider all Canadians.
And any chance you can garner extra votes for your party has gone straight out the window.
Obviously this is yet another fine example of how completely out of touch your party is with the electorate. I bet you are the moron behind “Happy Holidays” BS, aren’t ya?
What’s your next trick going to be to waste time in parliament over? You were elected to do a job of making this a better country, obviously your priorities are all screwed up.
Facinating article, it really makes a person think. I always like to read interesting articles about topics like this. Keep the great posts coming. Thanks again for sharing it with us.
thanks … we need to move the markers !!!
hope not ….. we just need to address the real issue that those who are trying to sing a bilingual version could look at this one as an option !!!
no rewrite…. just having an option at where we switch from English to French and back in any option for a bilingual version…. woudl love your advice…
we are not changing anything… there are now 2 official versions…yet many singers are trying to sing a bilingual version… we are just putting forth a suggestion as to where to switch back and forth from Eng and French !!!
this is an issue that has bothered me for my time as an MP….. every Wed we stand and sing a cacophony of anthems…… we are only proposing a 3rd way !!!!! a consensus if possible of a bilingual version….
every day I work on democratic renewal and the fight for health and health care……. but for years i have been worried that every wednesday in the House of Commons we stand side by side singing differnt versions of the national anthem …. we are not changing anything… there are now 2 official versions…yet many singers and events are trying to sing a bilingual version… we are just putting forth a suggestion as to where to switch back and forth from Eng and French !!!
every wednesday in the House of Commons we stand side by side singing differnt versions of the national anthem …. we are not changing anything… there are now 2 official versions…yet many singers and events are trying to sing a bilingual version… we are just putting forth a suggestion as to where to switch back and forth from Eng and French !!!
thank you…. surely we should be able to have a proper converstion !!! every wednesday in the House of Commons we stand side by side singing different versions of the national anthem …. we are not proposing changing anything… there are now 2 official versions…as many singers and events are trying to sing a bilingual version… we are just putting forth a suggestion as to where to switch back and forth from Eng and French !!!
there are now 2 official versions…as many singers and events are trying to sing a bilingual version… we are just putting forth a suggestion as to where to switch back and forth from Eng and French !!! it happens to be secular, gender neutral and bilingual !!!
there are now 2 official versions…as many singers and events are trying to sing a bilingual version… we are just putting forth a suggestion as to where to switch back and forth from Eng and French !!! it happens to be secular, gender neutral and bilingual !!!
interesting…. there are now 2 official versions…as many singers and events are trying to sing a bilingual version… we are just putting forth a suggestion as to where to switch back and forth from Eng and French !!! it happens to be secular, gender neutral and bilingual !!!
thanks… this shsoudl be an inclusive process….. having Cdns sing THEIR version out loud makes no sense…\
really, Ms. Bennett?
Wednesdays are your issue here? Oh no…you don’t know whether the anthem will be sung in English or French?
Once again, if this is such a pressing issue to you, perhaps you need to get in touch with average jane. Spend some time talking to people who have fallen through the chasms in healthcare and education, social programs, etc. Let those issues bother you so much you are motivated to do something about it.
Memo: Your job is to represent what Canadians care about.
If you insist on majoring in the minors maybe you just get out of public service, its that simple.
Thanks Carolyn.
My family was each born in Canada. We are offended by the continued inclusion of deity worship in our National Anthem. Canada stands strong and free with its peoples, not due the to the grace of a mythical being.
Both my daughters are intelligent, patriotic, free, love Canada, and are female. They deserve as much respect as anyone’s sons.
Quebec is half of Canada’s history. We protect Quebec’s culture with laws to ensure that culture will not disappear, or be assimilated. I do not speak French, but I will learn the words to our new National Anthem in respect to the other half of Canada’s culture.
I do agree that time should not be wasted over this. Change the anthem to the secular, gender neutral, bilingual version, and be done with it. You will have my vote if you do so.