A bill to make Canada’s familiar national anthem less sexist is one step closer to passage.
The Canadian national Senate late Wednesday gave its final approval to a bill that would change the “O Canada” to make it gender-neutral and more inclusive, sponsors say.
The second line of the anthem, composed in 1880 but the official national anthem only since 1980, now reads “True patriot love, in all thy sons command.” The proposed change would alter the English-language version of the text to “True patriot love, in all of us command.”
The House of Commons overwhelmingly approved the change in 2016, and the unelected Senate overcame determined opposition from some Conservative Party lawmakers to follow suit this week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has backed the change, calling the Senate approval on Twitter “another positive step towards gender equality.”
The measure still must be approved by Canada’s governor general to become law.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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