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New citizens take oath |
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Written by Frank Peebles
Citizen staff
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Wednesday, 01 July 2009 |
New Canadian citizens Enjemen Iyayi, left, and Florence Iyayi, both from South Africa, and Tao Xu, centre, from Guangzhou, China, were part of 39 recipients taking their citizenship oaths. (Citizen photo by David Mah)
They came from places like Russia, Portugal, India, Taiwan, South Africa, 19 different countries from all ethnic classes of the globe. There were grandparents, there were children, there were lone participants, there were families - 39 people altogether. They were Canada's newest citizens, minted at a Canada Day ceremony at the historic Huble Homestead on the shores of the Fraser River, at the head of the Giscome Portage on the site of the continental divide where adventurers and settlers were ushered into the new world by the aboriginal people of the Prince George region.
They had names ranging from Janet to Baljit, Susanna to Mohammed. They wore garb encompassing Sikh turbans to Mennonite coifs, traditional dress to modern suits. It was the multicultural scope that Order of Canada representative May Brown spoke of as she presided over the ceremony.
Brown observed that in Canada it is exactly these differences that are cherished by our social system. "Celebrate your roots and keep your heritage alive," she said. "Canada was the first country of the world to adopt multiculturalism as an official policy...we place enormous importance on the values of equality, respect and belonging."
That insistence by the current Canadian mainstream that newcomers to the Canadian family not assimilate to some code of living, or repress past religions or political views so long as they are safe, is exactly why Canadian citizenship is so treasured around the world, said Brown.
"I left the devil country: America," said Ken Baker, an expatriate Californian who took his oath of Citizenship at the Huble Homestead event. He married a woman from the area and moved here permanently, so he felt strongly about making his adoption to this country official.
Noemi Loro has been in Canada virtually her whole life and was surprised by her own reaction to the ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
"I am very excited. I didn't expect to be so emotional," said the Italy-born young mother. "I've lived here since I was two and I guess I never really thought it was so important to be a citizen just because I loved the country, but now that it is official it does feel important."
"It's about time," said her husband Jason Woodbeck as their young son scampered around the Huble grounds, punctuating the number of personal ties affected by one person's citizenship. "I've never been down here (to Huble Homestead) before. It is a picturesque place that depicts Canada. It's a perfect place for it."
Tao Xu had her next door neighbours at the event to support her at the citizenship ceremony. Xu found Canada to be a culture shock at first, especially the Prince George winters compared to the warm climate of Guangzhou, China where she's from, but she wanted to pledge herself here.
"I think I got used to the lifestyle here," she said. "My son is Canadian, my husband is a Canadian citizen, I've been here five years. I think I'm ready."
Each new citizen was sworn in by Citizenship and Immigration Officer Louise Cote-Madill, attended by red serged RCMP Const. Terry Fehr, along with acting mayor Dave Wilbur, federal Member of Parliament representative Barb Gale, Baljit Sethi from the Immigrant and Multicultural Services Society, and staff of the Huble Homestead.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 01 July 2009 )
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