Madam Speaker, I am pleased to be able to speak to this bill, which follows in a long line of bills aimed at correcting the English version of O Canada.

I would first like to point out, primarily for the benefit of some Quebeckers and francophones outside Quebec, that the French version is really the first version of O Canada. The music was written by Calixa Lavallée and the lyrics were penned by Adolphe-Basile Routhier. One could say that the original version of O Canada is still the French version. Accordingly, when we talk about correcting the English version, we are really talking about correcting an adaptation of the French version.

What is more, the English version of O Canada is not an exact translation of the French, but rather an adaptation. The message in both is more or less the same, but the English version is not a word-for-word translation of the national anthem in French. It is important to explain that for people who do not understand the language very well, and who might not fully understand what these changes consist of.

Again, for people wondering about the changes that will be made to the second line of the English version, the bill would change the words “all thy sons” to “all of us”. In other words, “the patriot love of thy sons” becomes “the patriot love of all of us”.

I wanted to clarify that for my colleagues and the people watching my speech who wanted more of an explanation about the French and English versions.

What is more, between 1880 and 1907, several attempts were made to translate Routhier's French version into English. It was the version composed by Robert Stanley Weir, a justice of the Exchequer Court of Canada, that would become part of popular culture. It was written in 1908 and sung during the 300th anniversary of Quebec City. The full version included the line “True patriot love thou dost in us command”. In 1914, that lyric was replaced with “True patriot love in all thy sons command”.

As I said in French, in 1914, the line that commenced with “True patriot love thou dost in us command” in O Canada was replaced with “True patriot love in all thy sons command”.

There is no clear answer as to why the change was made. A lot of people assume that because of the war, people wanted to make the English version of O Canada more patriotic, so they replaced those words. That is the most common explanation.

We now have a bill under the scrutiny of the House to again modify O Canada to make it more inclusive by replacing the words “all thy sons” with “all of us”. It is important to remember that women make up 50% of the population. Therefore, I think it is a good idea that our national anthem be more inclusive.

Also, as I said to some of my colleagues, perhaps in 1914 there were not a lot of women in the army. However, now they are full members of the armed forces. If the original change was made because of the war, and the face of the army has now changed, I think that with respect to war and patriotism women should have the right to be included in our national anthem.

That is why it is important to move forward with this bill. There were a number of bills that have attempted to correct that problem in our national anthem. The first one I have noted was in 1984, so it is not the first time we have tried to change it. Now is the time. I do not think it is fair to wait another 32 years. We will be very discouraged if it takes another 32 years. It is the right time to do it.

We are in 2016. The Canadian population will understand why we want to make the change. It is not a big change, and there will not be a big difference in the national anthem, but the difference is significant for women all across Canada. That is why we should support this bill by my colleague for Ottawa—Vanier. He did a really good job on it. My former colleague, Libby Davies, also worked on it.

It is the right time to do it. Let us make our national anthem inclusive. It is a good time to be singing the famous version with “true patriot love in all of us command”. I would be proud to sing it that way. It is what we should do, and I encourage all members of the House to make that change.

Christine Moore

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