My parents emigrated from England to Canada about 45 years ago. So I’ve had a few years to look around, check out a few things, meet some people … and I think I’ll stay.
Last week, Justin Trudeau welcomed me officially. I was one of 125 new Canadians from 40 different countries sworn in as citizens of this wonderful country. If you’re counting, that makes me about the 40 millionth, five-hundred and two thousandth, two-hundred and ninety-third person to proudly be Canadian. According to Stats Can, there’s new immigrant coming into the country every one minute and 35 seconds — some have waited years or decades for the privilege.
The formal process for me has taken about two years — my mom’s insistence that I get it done has gone back two decades.
It was a video ceremony last Monday morning, so mom, dad and my wife joined me in our Canadian kitchen with the laptop, a few Canadian flags and a screen filled with 125 smiling faces. The ceremony took about 90 minutes. Our kids were at school, so they left a British dad that morning and came home to a Canadian one that afternoon. (Although, as with most teens, as long as a parent has Canadian currency and a Canadian driver’s license, that’s all the patriotism they need).
Now, I should preface that I say I’m a new Canadian – but since the ceremony was in both of Canada’s official languages, and I’m only really fluent in one — when it came to the National Anthem and the Oath of Citizenship, there was some tricky French words included. Even a cheat-sheets in front of me, I may have pledged to be a French car, the Citroën, instead of a citoyen canadien.
Joking aside — assuming you found any of that amusing, and it didn’t put an angry frown line across your angry francophone forehead — “Tabarnak!”— the acceptance into this country, not just the official welcome I had last week, but the one that began 45 years ago, has been humbling.
I’m honoured to be a Canadian citizen and I’ll do my best to “stand on guard for thee” or “Protégera nos foyers et nos droits” as we Canadians say. Better yet, as the original land stewards who welcomed all of us to this great land say in the final lines of the Cree version of the anthem, “kakanata ninipawinan kiya ohci”. Taking into consideration I get French cars and citizenship mixed up, with respect, I believe that term refers to the links and connections of all people, no matter where they are from.
So, Kinanâskomitin, Merci and thank you for welcoming me.
