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Canada’s Gender-Neutral Anthem is Official

Canada’s Gender-Neutral Anthem is Official
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After the Senate voted on a change to Canada’s national anthem, the project needed royal assent from Canada’s Governor-General in order to become official. Now that the British Crown’s Canadian representative has done so, the new anthem is being put to use in all official spheres.

The lyric “In all thy sons command” was changed to “In all of us command” to better reflect gender equality. Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly was quick to instruct her staff to make the change on the Government of Canada’s website, the CBC reports. However, a PDF document on Canada.ca still contained the old version when we checked this morning:

Canada.ca

Source: Canada.ca

Canadian Athletes Reluctant to make Promises… 

The Canadian Olympic Committee expects Canadian athletes to sing the updated anthem at the 2018 Peyongchang Games. Athletes even sang the updated version this morning at a flag-raising ceremony. However, some seemed reticent to accept the change, TSN reports. Bobsledder Jesse Lumsden said he doesn’t expect to be able to remember the change if he takes the podium. 

I can promise you this, the lyrics of that national anthem have been ingrained in me for 36 years. I'm not going to remember that change. For anybody who I might offend, I'm sorry.

Another bobsledder, Justin Kripps, had similar comments about his ability to remember the national anthem: 

I would say slim to none. Luckily it's just a few words. When I sing I kind of just mumble anyway because I have a terrible singing voice.

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