moved for leave to introduce Bill C-264, an act to amend the National Anthem Act.
Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this bill is to change in the English version only the words "thy sons" to the words "our hearts" in order to remove any sexist reference from our national anthem and to change the word "hearts" to the word "pride".
In introducing this bill I would like to pay tribute to a group of students at Westridge school in my constituency, in particular Tim Wood and Aly-Khan Virani and their teacher Emily Sutherland, who have worked very hard to document and help change the unequal representation of females in the media and elsewhere in Canadian society.
I congratulate these young students and their teacher on their leadership in promoting equality for all Canadians including girls and women in Canadian society.
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that equality is reflected in the wording of our national anthem as well.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed.)