Doug Stanglin

USA TODAY

The Canadian parliament is close to adopting a bill that would change the national anthem – O Canada – to make it gender-neutral.

The bill, affecting only the English-language lyrics, would change “in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command.”

The initiative, strongly backed by the new Liberal government, overwhelmingly passed two readings this week in the House of Commons, was sent to a heritage committee then went back to the Commons for a third reading. If it passes, as expected, it would then go to the Senate and could be adopted officially this summer, or, more likely, in the fall.

After passing the second reading this week by a wide margin, 219-79, MPs on both sides of the House burst into an impromptu singing of O Canada.

“We are in 2016. The Canadian population will understand why we want to make the change," said New Democrat MP Christine Moore during the debate, MRC-TV reports. "It is not a big change, and there will not be a big difference in the national anthem, but the difference is significant for women all across Canada.”

One reason the move is being fast-tracked is that it is viewed as a legacy project for Liberal MP Mauril Bélanger, whose health is rapidly deteriorating from ALS, according to the Ottaway Citizen. The longtime member from Ottawa-Vanier can no longer speak and must rely on a voice generator.

O Canada has gone through several changes over the year since the music and original French lyrics were written in 1880. At some points, there were competing unofficial anthems between the French and the English citizens, with the latter opting for God Save the Queen.

An English version of O Canada was penned in 1906. The current English lyrics, by a Canadian poet and judge, Robert Stanley Weir, were written in 1906 and have been revised twice, most recently in 1980, when it was officially adopted as the national anthem.

If adopted, one line in the new version would revert almost to what it was before 1914 when it read, "Our home, our native land, True patriot love thou dost in us command.” The line was changed in 1914 to "in all they sons command" in an apparent effort, according to one account, to stoke First World War patriotic fervor for the boys heading overseas, according to The Globe and Mail.

Not every MP is on board with the proposed change. One attempt to revise the lyrics was rejected in 2010 by Conservatives even though it was proposed by Conservative PM Stephen Harper.

“It is tragic that this is being done in a fashion where Canadians are being shut out. Their national anthem is being changed. They have been singing it for decades, millions of Canadians. It belongs to them, it is not a plaything of us,” Peter Van Loan, a Conservative MP, said in committee Thursday, the National Post reports.

“We are telling Canadians, ‘Guess what, you don’t have a say in your national anthem," Van Loan said. "It belongs to us as politicians ... for us to deliver our worldview to you and impose it upon you.’”

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