'In All Thy Political Correctness Command!'

 

I've read in the news recently that the Canadian Conservative government's throne speech (for those not of Canuck origin, this is when the Governor-General, a Commonwealth representative, makes a keynote speech outlining the goals of the parliamentary government) consisted of a few points of interest: budget cuts, a "tough on crime" bill, and a proposal to adjust the national anthem of Canada to be more gender-neutral.

Here's the offending stanza of our anthem: "True patriot love, in all thy sons command!"


Here's the offered lyric in its place: "True patriot love, thou dost us all command!"


This suggestion came at the hands of Janet Keeping, president of the Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership in Calgary.  She says that the anthem as it is does not reflect modern women who "are side by side with their male counterparts, showing that patriotic love, making those sacrifices," she totes to CTV News Channel. 

"We know that that language was not meant to include all of us.  I would just change it to 'In all of us command' and be done with it," she says at the end of her statement.