OTTAWA, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The Canadian Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that makes the country's national anthem gender neutral after two years of stalling.

The bill allows to change the second line of the anthem from "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command."

The House of Commons had overwhelmingly approved the change as part of a push to strike gendered language from the national anthem named "O Canada."

The bill has to get official assent by the Governor General before it officially becomes law.

Since 1980, when "O Canada" written by Robert Stanley Weir officially became the country's anthem, 12 bills have been introduced in the House of Commons to strip the gendered reference to "sons," which some have argued is discriminatory.