Doesn’t Ottawa Have Anything Better to Do?

Cynthia Cheng

They want to change the lyrics of O Canada, claiming that “in all thy sons command” is sexist.  Honestly, I can’t believe Ottawa would even suggest changing such a thing.  This is not a “real” issue that needs to be dealt with right away.  It’s just words.  It’s not an official document that affects the majority of people in this country.  Most people, in fact, don’t care (though I find it very odd that statistics say only 25% of Canadians know all the words to O Canada.  The anthem was drilled into me in elementary school, when they played it every morning.  They made us sing it at Brownies and Girl Guides too.  Perhaps they meant people not knowing the anthem in both official languages?  Because I can’t sing it in French) about the “sexist” words.

Really, I think the government has fallen into the trap of trying to be extremely politically correct.  It’s something that many multi-generational Canadians are guilty of.  They try to accomodate everyone and sometimes even criticize people for “integrating” into mainstream society.  In the most extreme cases, they give off the vibe of treating people who aren’t “like them” as museum pieces.  Think “it’s great that they don’t integrate.”  Not very nice when you look at it this way, right?  Anyway…

Right now, Canada has more issues than one simple word in our national anthem.  We are in recovery mode when it comes to the economy.  There is a war going on in Afghanistan.  There are issues relating to immigration.  Those are just three of the many more serious problems that Ottawa should be focusing on.  Why aren’t they concentrating on that?  Why are they trying to fix something that most people don’t want fixed and pleasing only a very small handful of extremists?  Maybe you know, because I surely do not.

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