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What started as a young girl's letter to the editor has since turned into a national debate, all after a New Brunswick elementary school cancelled its daily singing of O Canada.

The anthem was pulled for the start of the 2007 school year at Belleisle Elementary, a school with some 200 students in Springfield.

But after a letter to the local paper, one mother has become the de facto spokesperson on a story that's exploded across the country.

“I can't believe we're fighting this battle,” Susan Boyd said.

Her daughter Kara, 14, wrote the letter, while daughter Julia, 11, attends the school. The girls' cousin, Private David Greenslade, was killed last year in Afghanistan, and the family sees the anthem as a message of support. “We should be singing the anthem just as loud as ever.”

The decision was made by the school's principal, who has said parents complained that their children shouldn't have to take part.

“Sometimes we have students whose parents, because of their beliefs, don't want their children to participate,” superintendent Zoë Watson told CTV.

Veteran Affairs Minister Greg Thompson called Thursday for the anthem to be reinstated, and Education Minister Kelly Lamrock said he'd consider recommending a change.

“The school should play the national anthem, quite frankly,” he told CTV.

That's all fine to Ms. Boyd, who wants it made mandatory in all schools and is getting calls of support from coast to coast.

“Just from all over Canada, people are calling,” she said. “I had no idea it would get this far.”