Canada’s anthem to become gender neutral after senate approves lyric change
In the official English version of O Canada, ‘in all thy sons command’ will be changed to ‘in all of us command’
The Canadian Senate has passed legislation to make the English version of the national anthem, O Canada, gender neutral.
The bill calls for replacing the phrase “in all thy sons command” with “in all of us command.”
There have been 12 bills aimed at removing the word “sons” from O Canada since it became the anthem in 1980, but none has been approved – until now, Canadian broadcaster CBC reported.
The changes are opposed by some Conservative lawmakers. The song, written by Robert Stanley Weir in 1908, has been changed before.
The latest bill, which was introduced by Liberal lawmaker Mauril Bélanger before her death in 2016, must be approved by the governor general – the representative in Canada of the country’s monarch Queen Elizabeth – before it becomes law.