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In its third and final reading, the Senate of Canada on Wednesday passed a bill to change some lyrics in âO Canada,â the countryâs national anthem, aiming for gender neutrality.
With this, the lyric âin all thy sons commandâ will now be altered as âin all of us command,â local Canadian media CBC șÚÁÏÉç reported. Before its passage, the bill had been debated upon for 18 months by parliamentary members.
Bill has been adopted in the Senate at third reading:
â Senate of Canada (@SenateCA)
This bill, filed by late parliament member Mauril BĂ©langer, is the first to be passed by the House of Commons after 12 bills have been filed since 1980 to make the change, as the term âsonsâ has been argued by some as discriminatory in nature. It now has to go through approval by the governor general before being enacted into law.
Upon the voting, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to Twitter to commend the move, saying it was âanother positive step towards gender equality.â
Maurilâs bill to make O Canada gender neutral passed third reading in the Senate tonight â another positive step towards gender equality.
â Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau)
Grant Mitchell, an Independent senator, expressed his delight in the billâs passage and lauded his fellow lawmaker Sen. Frances Lankin, who was the sponsor, and his fellow parliamentarians to make the change happen.
I am delighted that Bill has passed in the Senate tonight! Congratulations to Senator Frances Lankin and to all of the Parliamentarians who worked to make Canadaâs national anthem gender neutral.
â Grant Mitchell (@SenMitchell)
âThe Handmaidâs Taleâ author Margaret Atwood showed how elated she was through the social media site and thanked the Senate.
Thank you ! âIn all of us commandâ: Senate passes bill approving anthem wording
â Margaret E. Atwood (@MargaretAtwood)
However, not all welcomed the passing of the bill, as some opposition members expressed their disappointment at the change.
Sen. Denise Batters, who is a member of the countryâs conservative party, said the votes showed âshameful, anti-democratic behaviorâ from what she said were âTrudeau-appointed senatorsâ and from the Senate speaker for they âshut down legitimate debate in Congress.â
Shameful, anti-democratic behaviour by -appointed senators, including Speaker, as they shut down legitimate debate in Chamber
â Sen. Denise Batters (@denisebatters)
Another Conservative member, Bob Soraya, expressed his disappointment that âthe Liberals changed our national anthem. [Some things]Â just shouldnât change.â Soraya was referring to the Liberal Party, who is the current ruling party where Trudeau is a member of.
Dissappointed to hear the Liberals changed our national anthem. Somethings just shouldnât change.
â Bob Saroya, MP (@BobSaroya)
Sen. Betty Unger said that the countryâs national anthem âhas just been changed by hijacking parliamentary procedure,â adding that it was âa harbinger of things to come.â
Canadaâs âindependentâ Senators shut down debate on the Anthem Bill in defiance of longstanding parliamentary tradition to allow full Senate debate. Our national anthem has just been changed by hijacking parliamentary procedure. A harbinger of things to come. -210
â Senator Betty Unger (@BettyUngerAB)
âO Canadaâ was written in 1908 by Montreal judge and poet Robert Stanley Weir, and its lyrics have been changed before, including an update that dates back to the First World War that later sparked debate.
Previously, Canada made the move to make their passports gender-neutral by being marked as âXâ if a person cannot be identified as male or female.  Katrina Hallare /ra
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