"And most importantly, if your country were to change the anthem, what would change?" Good question.
For the last several years, people have been trying to change the first three lines of Canada's English language national anthem (we also have an official French version) to one that shows recognition of the First Nations and is inclusive of women. The federal gov. even hinted that they were thinking of changing it; however, on March 5, 2010, the prime minister's office announced that the anthem will not change. So we now have this: O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command. People want to change it to O Canada!
Our home ON native land!
True patriot love in all OF US command. Other than that, it's ok as far as anthems go.
I understand that people want to change it. The anthem has to somewhat reflect the country in the little things, like indeed inclusion of men and women instead of just men. I do however ask myself why one would want to change the second sentence? Because of immigrants? I have another question for you since Canada, like Belgium and Luxembourg has multiple official languages. Which version of the anthem is sung at official events? The French or the English version? Or both?
I think the change to the second line would be a reference to the indigenous people of Canada - the natives whose land was taken over by settlers. Indeed, the original line "Our home and native land" doesn't make sense; obviously it is not really the native land of Canadians historically.
I never hear both. I recall often hearing the bilingual version at high school and other public events: 2 lines English, 4 lines French, 3 lines English. In Toronto, it's usually the English version at baseball games. My guess is that at Quebec hockey games, it's the French version, but I've never been (and I don't watch hockey on TV). (Yes, you can be Canadian and avoid hockey.) What do they do in Belgium? What about Switzerland, which I believe is officially trilingual: French, Italian, and German? (Quadrilingual actually) Do they dispense with singing altogether? I would.
I don't really know, since I am Dutch, not Belgian. Belgium is also trilingual. French, Dutch and German. All three versions of the anthem say pretty much the same, so lines could be interchanged to form an trilingual version. According to Wikipedia, this is actually what happens at the national day, just like the bilingual version of O Canada. As for Switzerland. I honestly don't know. Maybe I'll ask my previous room mate. His girlfriend hails from Switzerland. I'll keep you posted.