Old national anthem engraved on Great Canadian Flag base intentional, say organizers
The final touches have been put on the Great Canadian Flag Project which includes a plaque with the national anthem engraved onto it, but instead of the updated anthem, organizers say they have kept the old one.
"The committee debated the issue and we decided collectively that we would go with the original version that was sung the day the flag was raised," said Peter Hrastovec, chairperson of the Great Canadian Flag Project.
The flag was raised on May 20, 2017 at the riverfront in Windsor and the plaque was put on the base of the flagpole just last week.
The lyrics to O Canada changed Feb. 7 from "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command" as part of a push to strike gendered language from the anthem.
"As it stands now this is the decision that we made and we will stick to it. We are happy with the decision," said Hrastovec.
Hrastovec said, at this point, it is up to the city if changes want to be made. The flag committee handed the project over to the city upon completion.
Long-time Windsor resident Mike Peris said he never would have noticed the plaque had the old lyrics and doesn't see anything wrong with keeping them that way.
"The fact they put the old one on isn't really that big of a deal to me … The new version is fine but I didn't really take offence to it that they left the old one on," Peris said, walking past the flag Tuesday evening.
Rachel St. Pierre, 21, said it doesn't make sense to feature the old anthem's lyrics when it won't be recognized in the future.
"I feel like in the coming years it is going to become kind of a problem and they are going to have to put up a new plaque," she said.
"Knowing how a lot of us young kids are, we are all about inclusivity, so the fact that this isn't changed is a little weird."
