Bob Collins
Canada, which has the world’s best national anthem, is tweaking the thing to get with the times.
See if you can determine the problematic line. No peeking.
“In all thy sons command?”
No, the Senate says. It has passed a measure to replace the line with “in all of us command.”
That’s not going over big with the conservatives, who have held efforts to change the anthem at bay for about 30 years.
There’s an argument that you shouldn’t tweak history, but the song has only been the anthem in Canada since 1980.
And besides, the original line for the song was “thou dost in us command.” Preserving history means making the anthem gender neutral.
“There’s been 30 years plus of activity trying to make our national anthem, this important thing about our country, inclusive of all of us,” Independent Ontario Sen. Frances Lankin said. “This may be small, it’s about two words, but it’s huge … we can now sing it with pride knowing the law will support us in terms of the language. I’m proud to be part of the group that made this happen.”
It’s not clear when the change will take effect. It still requires “royal assent.”
