The Senate finally passed a bill that renders the national anthem gender neutral Wednesday despite the entrenched opposition of some Conservative senators.
The House of Commons overwhelmingly passed a private member's bill in 2016 that would alter the national anthem by replacing "in all thy sons command" with "in all of us command" as part of a push to strike gendered language from O Canada.
The bill, first introduced by the late Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger, now must receive royal assent by the Governor General before it officially becomes law.
Independent Ontario Sen. Frances Lankin, the bill's sponsor in the upper house, said she was elated after the bill's passage. Her efforts to get the bill passed were stymied by some Conservative senators who thought Parliament had no business tinkering with the words of a song written by a man long dead.
After 18 months of debate in the Red Chamber, Lankin introduced a controversial motion in the Senate Tuesday evening that would effectively shut down debate and immediately move to a vote on the bill.
Conservative senators were furious that Manitoba Sen. Don Plett, who has long opposed the bill, was not able to speak in opposition to such a motion. Plett said Wednesday, ahead of the final vote, that a change such as altering the national anthem should be put to a referendum.
Conservatives boycotted a vote on Sen. Lankin's motion and thus missed the final vote on the bill, which passed on a voice vote as only Independent and Liberal senators — who were largely in favour of the change — were present in the chamber. Although, some "neas" could be heard coming from a handful of those senators.
More to come.
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