A group of well-known Canadian women has started a campaign calling for more gender-neutral language in the English lyrics of 'O Canada.'

The group wants the federal government to amend the National Anthem Act and change one of the lines in the English anthem to be more gender neutral.

It would like to remove the phrase "in all thy sons command" and replace it with "in all of us command."Such a change, it says, would restore the anthem to its original gender-neutral intentions, as well as update the wording to current English.

Author Margaret Atwood and former prime minister Kim Campbell are among several women who had thrown their support behind the plan, and they've set up a website called RestoreOurAnthem.ca to promote the idea.

The site is being launched on the 100th anniversary of another change to the original English lyrics. The group says, for no documented reason, the lyrics were revised in 1913 from "thou dost in us command" to "in all thy sons command".

The campaigners say now is the time to change the lyrics to reflect the "inclusive intentions" of the original words.

The national anthem is "a living document" and can be amended much like many of the other symbols of Canada, the group says.

"O Canada is something that represents our country on a global scale and should therefore be inclusive and indicative of our population and our attitude towards them," the group says on its website.

"Restoring the anthem to reflect its original version is the simplest way to encapsulate the equality of all Canadians."

While some might argue that going to the effort to change just two words in our anthem is a waste of time, the group says that "every small win for equality contributes to a larger goal to fully establish women as equals in Canada."

The official English lyrics of our anthem are based on a poem written in 1908 by Justice Robert Stanley Weir, a lawyer and Recorder of the City of Montreal. The lyrics were proclaimed as Canada's national anthem in 1980 under the National Anthem Act.

English lyrics of 'O Canada'

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.