Canada’s House of Commons unanimously voted to ban LGBTQ+ conversion therapy in a historic move on 1 December.
After passing through the House, the bill must now be approved by the upper Senate chamber.
Conversion therapy is a practice that seeks to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity and can take many forms.
It has been widely condemned by medical professionals who state it doesn’t work and has harmful effects on those who undergo it.
“It’s an important day to … express yourself and understand yourself the way you are and the way you want to be,” said Justice Minister David Lametti.
The motion was fast-tracked earlier in the week and skipped the routine legislative debate when no MP spoke out against doing so.
The decision to act with such a speed was suggested by Conservative justice critic Rob Moore earlier on the day of the vote, though the measure itself was proposed by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
In June, an earlier version of the bill failed to get through the Senate – though this was before Trudeau called an election in September that resulted in him securing a third mandate and his second minority government after winning 160 seats.
The House of Commons erupted with cheers of hugs after the motion to ban the practice was approved, with some senior gay Liberals fighting back tears.
Randy Boissonnault, Tourism Minister, said: “We said we wanted people to be on the right side of history on this issue. No one can consent to torture.”
“It’s a great day for survivors, to know that no one else is going to go through what they went through,” he added.
Conversion therapy is yet to be banned in the UK, despite years of the government promising to do so.
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