Canada has changed the words of their national anthem to make sure everyone is included. A group of women started a campaign in 1997 and this week the words have officially changed.
The first line of the national anthem was:
O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command!
Frances Wright led a campaign group to honour women who fought for equality in the 1920s and at many events the national anthem would be sung. Frances realised that gender equality was missing from her national anthem, and many others agreed; at girl guide events fathers would complain afterwards about singing the anthem; "They'd come up to me and say things like, "I have a son and a daughter but in the anthem I only get to song about my son."
Frances and many other women decided to campaign for a change of one line in the national anthem; for "all thy sons command" to "all of us command". At the end of January 2018 Senate passed a bill to accept the change.
When the campaign started Frances found getting support difficult. Many people argued against the change. Senator Nancy Ruth previously campaigned for a change but when the then prime minister planned to announce the change he received 35,000 emails of complaint so the plan was dropped. Frances knew a change would take time; "We were changing a national anthem, a song that - what- 36 million people sing on a regular basis and is heard around the world. You can't just do it on a whim, we realised it'd take some time."
Senator Frances Lankin says, "I want to live in a world where the opportunities are open from day one. Will this bill make that happen? No. But will my great grand-daughter ever have to ask me, "Why is it only sons? Why don't we talk about daughters?" Not any more."
What do you see in the picture?
Which country's flag?
What do you notice about the people in the photo?
What does this photo suggest about this country?
Explain the story
- What is a national anthem for? When is it performed?
- When do you think this national anthem was written?
- Why do you think the original line of the song only mentions sons?
- Why do some people want the line changed to "all of us"?
- The campaign has taken 20 years to succeed; why do you think it has taken so long?
- What does this show about tradition and ideas and change?
- What can we learn from Frances Wright?
- What can we learn from Canada?
- Why is this story about No Outsiders?
No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools by Andrew Moffat
Reclaiming radical ideas in schools: Preparing young children for life in modern Britain by Andrew Moffat
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