The Canadian Senate has passed a bill amending an excerpt from the national anthem, entitled “O Canada”, to respect gender neutrality in the song’s lyrics.

The change takes place in the second line of the English version of the anthem, originally written in French, which reads: “True patriot love in all thy sons command”, in the original version).

The bill provides for the replacement of the words “your children” (“your sons”) with “we all” (“we all”). Indeed, in English, the term “sons” refers only to male children.

The amendment was proposed in 2016 by Liberal Party of Canada MP Mauril Bélanger, who died later that year. The case went through the House of Commons and, after encountering resistance from Tories, was finally approved in the Senate on Wednesday (31).

To come into effect, the measure must still obtain the approval of the Canadian governor general, Julie Payette, who officially represents the British monarchy in Canada.

The English lyrics to “O Canada” were written in 1908 by Robert Stanley Weir. The song became Canada’s national anthem in 1980, and since then 12 bills have been introduced to change the reference to “sons” in the lyrics. The French version does not have the same expression.

The idea started gaining traction in 2013, with a campaign led by a number of influential Canadian women, including author Margaret Atwood and former prime minister Kim Campbell.

“Restoring the lyrics to respect gender neutrality is not only a solution to making our anthem inclusive of all Canadians, but [deve ser feito] also because it’s retrograde,” Atwood said at the time. This Thursday, she celebrated the Senate’s approval in a post on Twitter.