Canada MPs back gender-neutral changes to national anthem

The Canadian House of Commons overwhelmingly passed Bill C-210 by a vote of 225 to 74 on Wednesday, tweaking the third line of “O Canada” to incorporate gender-neutral phrasing. Now the measure will go to Canada’s Senate.

“O Canada” will be more gender neutral after the changing its text – the 3rd line, which reads, “True patriot’s love in all thy sons command…” will be replaced with another option “True patriot’s love in all thy us command…”

Speaking ahead of the vote in Ottawa on 15 June, status of women minister, Patty Hajdu, told reporters the change in lyrics would be a strong gesture to towards gender equality. The previous Conservative government suggested changes should be made to the anthem’s lyrics in 2010, but after opposition from the Canadian population, the proposal was thrown out by the House of Commons.

The change was proposed by ailing Liberal lawmaker Mauril Belanger, who was diagnosed last November with Lou Gehrig’s disease and may not live to see it become law. The changes have been passed in the House of Commons, which is controlled by the Liberals, but has to be approved by the appointed Senate. The song was originally composed with French lyrics in 1880. The English version is an adaptation, not translation, of the French, and was written decades later.

In case you are wanting to learn the Canadian anthem, here is the current version of ‘O Canada’. It wasn’t clear if the English version they sang had the amended clause.