Ceremony welcomes 80 new Canadians
'Being a true citizen is something I will not forget in my life'
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/04/2018 (2947 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Eighty people from 19 different nations became Canadian citizens Tuesday at a special citizenship ceremony at Winnipeg’s Via Rail station.
“You know that day you circled on your calendar for the past couple of months?” Manitoba’s former chief of protocol, Dwight MacAulay, said in his opening remarks. “This is it, ladies and gentlemen. April 10th.
“Today your lives will literally change forever.”
MacAulay, who presided over the ceremony, said unless you are a member of a First Nation, everyone in attendance was an immigrant.
“Now, we don’t all share the same past, that’s a given,” he said. “But I tell you this: we’re all part of the same future. And that future — ladies and gentlemen — that future is Canada.”
During the ceremony, each individual was called up one at a time to receive their citizenship papers and a small Canadian flag, and shake the hands of MacAulay, MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North) and a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the RCMP, in that order. Each new citizen received applause, while some were also cheered on by friends and family in attendance.
Lamoureux told the new citizens they are now part of Canada’s greatest strength. “It is our diversity that makes us who we are as a nation,” he said.
Rosemary Kidn first came to Canada from what is now South Sudan in 2007, and applied for citizenship in 2015. On Tuesday, she wore a pink-and-yellow dress and a big smile.
“I just wanted to become a citizen because you have all of the freedom, you can do whatever you want to do, and that is what convinces you to become a true Canadian,” she said. “Now I am free, nobody can say you are not Canadian.
“I can speak out, I can… talk and do whatever I want to do. Because I’m a Canadian, I can express my needs, and it really uplifted me. Being a true citizen is something I will not forget in my life.”
The ceremony ended with everyone standing and singing O Canada.
nicholas.frew@freepress.mb.ca
