Mayor Rob Ford says he is not in favour of a discussion at city council on changing the lyrics of Canada’s national anthem to be gender-inclusive.

A motion to ask the federal government to make the anthem gender-inclusive is on the agenda at next week’s council meeting scheduled to take place over two days on Monday and Tuesday.The proposed change would alter the words in the line “True patriot love in all thy sons command” to “all of us command”

The motion was introduced by interim Coun. Ceta Ramkhalawansingh who was appointed to the Ward 20 Trinity-Spadina riding after former Coun. Adam Vaughan won a federal by-election in June. Coun. Pam McConnell has seconded the motion.

Although a change to the anthem requires Ottawa’s approval, Ramkhalawansingh is urging council to provide “leadership on gender equity” issues as it has done in the past.

Speaking after a mural unveiling in Rexdale Friday morning, Ford said he disagrees with the motion and doesn’t understand why it’s being brought to the council floor.

“This is a not an… emergency issue, and that’s what members motions are supposed to be,” said Ford. “It’s a federal issue. I don’t think it should be debated on on the last day of city council when there are much more important things to talk about.”

Next week’s meeting is the last one this term before the municipal election on Oct. 27.

In an interview with CP24, Ramkhalawansingh said that while some people have told her they support her motion, she has received some negative backlash as well.

“I think what we’re seeing is some deep-embedded misogyny in this society,” said Ramkhalawansingh. “The objections to it are: Why change anything? There has been some negative commentary some of which have been racist attacking me personally for raising it.”

Ramkhalawansingh said she has also invited other councillors to sing the alternate words - it is regular practice to sing O Canada at the start of every council meeting.

“We could have a situation where people will sing the gender-inclusive words and do something else when it comes to voting because one is sort of a personal statement and the other would be a more public policy,” she said.

In her motion, Ramkhalawansingh points out that council has led efforts on women’s issues in the past by allowing civic facilities to be used for meetings on suffrage, electing Canada’s first female municipal council members and building women’s capacity “to participate in public life through the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Regional Champions Program.”

The motion cites inspiration from the “Sing All of Us” campaign which was founded last year by Canada’s first and only female prime minister Kim Campbell, senator Nancy Ruth, educator Sally Goddard, and authors Margaret Atwood and Vivienne Poy.

This would not be the first time the anthem has undergone changes. The original English version contained the words “Thou dost in us command.”

The English version’s original author Justice Robert Stanley Weir changed the lyrics at least five times in 1913, 1914, 1916, 1927 and 1980. It was not until Canada Day in 1980 that the poem became the country’s official anthem, and nine private members’ bills have been introduced since then calling for a gender-inclusive anthem.

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