Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank the member for York—Simcoe for that brief and very good lesson on the national anthem. I would also like to thank the member for Ottawa—Vanier for appearing here today in the House of Commons. It is phenomenal to see him here, and I am very grateful that he was here to introduce his bill.
Today I stand in support of our national anthem, O Canada, in its current form, the form that was adopted in 1980 when it became our national anthem.
Back in January when I went on record with local media sources and stated that I would not support the bill to amend our national anthem, within my own community, with a few exceptions, men and women alike from a variety of ages and groups fully supported my view on not changing the anthem.
Sarah McClure wrote, “Thank you for standing up against changing our national anthem”. Tracey Hare wrote, “Thank you Karen”. Mary Lou Stanley of St. Thomas wrote, “Thanks Karen. I believe there are more important issues for women than words in a song”. Doris Baughman said, “Thank you. We should not have to change anything. You can't please everyone.” Joan Wakeling said, “It is great the way it is. Thanks for your stand on this issue.” Mackenzie Murray Cameron Smith said, “What about the other verses? If you are changing the song's lyrics then you have to change the 3rd verse as well to be gender-neutral: O Canada, beneath the shining skies, may stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise”. Tina Dunn said, “That's wonderful. Thank you Karen L. Vecchio. We need more politicians who will stand up for our heritage”.
On the page from the local radio station there were 37 shares and thousands of likes to follow. These are my constituents, and I am here as their elected official.
Now, when we move to national media, many of the same types of support exist, but for those who did not agree with me, there was a whole new discussion. These discussions become much more directed and included the following: Spider Queen, “l am disgusted by Vecchio's response”; and Duckie, “Wake up and get with the 21st century”; but finally, “The Cons could always be counted on to vote against anything that would in the smallest way recognize Canadian women as equal.”
Although I scoured the Internet last night, I could not find the initial comments that were drawn from this original discussion, but let us just say that, if people are so worried about the way they are treating women and want to change the national anthem, the words and slanders that they threw my way would be totally unacceptable. It is quite funny that women's rights mean one thing until you disagree and stand up for a different opinion.
I am a strong woman and a leader within my community. I stand with pride when I sing the national anthem, but by no means am I offended by the national anthem. People in support of keeping the national anthem the way it is will comment that the word “son” can have many different uses including a possessive to God and so forth. I am not going to attempt to say that the word “son” does not mean male, but my true concern is the following and something summed up very well.
In Maclean's magazine on October 9, 2013, regarding a campaign to make our national anthem gender-neutral, the following was written by Emma Teital and states:
Key to the campaign is the argument that “the lyrics of O Canada now exclude more than 50 per cent of our population while acting as the underlying foundation of our nation.” But the underlying foundation of our nation is not a song kids mumble after the morning bell and before hockey games. The foundation of our nation—the thing that makes us us—is our Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both of which protect the rights of women and minorities.
We see in our own history that there have been many attempts to change O Canada, including in June 1990, when Toronto City Council voted in favour of recommending to the federal government that the wording “our home and native land” be changed to “our home and cherished land” to be more inclusive of non-native-born Canadians, and that the phrase “in all thy sons command” be changed to “in all of us command” to bring it closer to the original, “thou dost in us command”, and to make it more gender-inclusive.
The same occurred in 2002 when a senator introduced a bill that “in all thy sons command” be changed to “in all of us command”.
Several groups criticized the reference to God in the English version and to Catholicism in the French version as being anti-secular, and in 2010, the Speech from the Throne indicated it would review the original gender-neutral wording of the national anthem. Public outcry against changing the national anthem, including the same in the riding of Elgin—Middlesex—London saw the plans reversed.
The government and all members of Parliament in the House, support women.
We are all committed to seeing a better life and better opportunities for mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, and granddaughters, but there is much more that we can do. In the status of women committee, we are currently studying gender-based analysis and will be returning in the fall for a full and in-depth study on violence against women.
Although I did not support the bill put forward by the NDP member for Nanaimo—Ladysmith, who is here today, because I did not feel it was necessary to create a new committee, as it should have been done under the status of women committee in my view, this government and all parties are studying pay equity. The previous government put forward many initiatives for women also, including the International Day of the Girl, as well as opportunities for businesswomen and entrepreneurs.
However, I go back to the anthem.
As I said, changing the anthem would open up Pandora's box. The lyrics to our national anthem are a great source of pride for Canadians and a symbol for all Canadians. Once we open up this discussion to amend the national anthem to make it gender equal, as some may say, we also open it up to a variety of other changes, including the removal of religious words and words referring to indigenous people.
We should be supporting all Canadians: men and women, seniors and our youth, Christians and Jews, and so on, but this is a discussion about changing part of our Canadian heritage. This is an empty gesture and we should be focusing on what is real and tangible for Canadians. This gesture is about being politically correct, and not truly creating new opportunities for women.
As I said and as it was indicated in Maclean's magazine, our national anthem is not perfect but it is part of our national heritage. We all stand with pride and sing our national anthem and I do so as a woman. Persons of different faith backgrounds stand and sing our national anthem. New immigrants taking their oath to Canada at citizenship ceremonies stand up and sing our national anthem, and all with great pride. This is our national anthem.
If we are really trying to achieve equality, social media masters would not be seeking to discredit me just because I stand on my beliefs and those of my constituents, and slander my integrity. We have all heard that actions speak louder than words, so I would suggest that we start acting to support all women, and not just when our views are the same.
I look forward to this rigorous debate and I support the views of all colleagues on all sides of the House regardless of their personal views.
I do not support this legislation but I do support Canadians and I support our national anthem in its current form. As one of the greatest women in Canadian history, my mother, said, “Karen, keep the national anthem as is.”