Thirty-five people from 13 different countries became Canadians on Tuesday.
A citizenship ceremony was held at council chambers at Quinte West City Hall.
It was an especially special day as the ceremony took place on Canadian Multiculturalism Day.
The new Canadians took part in the Oath of Citizenship, got their citizenship certificate, signed their Oath or Affirmation of Citizenship form and finished with the singing of the Canadian national anthem.
Rodney Simmons is a citizenship judge who led the oath.
He described the emotion of the people he saw who went to grab their certificates.
“There were tears in eyes and there were people wiping away tears,” Simmons tells Quinte News.
“There was a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation before the excitement.”
Simmons himself immigrated to Canada from Pakistan.
He says it’s important for people, especially kids, to be able see themselves represented in all walks of life.
“When I first became a citizenship judge in 2018, somebody came up to me, and they were a guest at a ceremony, they said when I see someone that looks like you, that’s swearing in citizens, it gives us hope that we can do anything,” Simmons tells Quinte News.
“I say to young people, you can do anything you want if you’re willing to work hard and study hard. There’s nothing holding you back. That’s important to know that I can do anything I want. I think it’s a wonderful thing for young kids to have.”
The Escano family getting their citizenship certificates. June 27, 2023. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
For the Escano family, it’s been a long journey to get to the ceremony.
“We applied before the pandemic,” Bernadita Escano tells Quinte News.
“During our application, the test was halted because of COVID and we waited and waited. We got our test finally last year, and then we waited a few months more for the oath taking.”
The Escanos immigrated from the Philippines and were also previously permanent residents in Singapore.
Bernadita says the decision to move to Canada was based on what was best for their children.
“We have four kids and one is actually born Canadian,” Bernadita explained.
“So when we immigrated we had three kids with us and all of our decisions are for their futures. So basically, this is what our research pointed us to.”
She says Canada has treated her family well.
“We love how friendly the people here are when we came here,” Bernadita explained
“We were surprised like people on the streets, are talking to us, people in the elevators … we love the vibe of the culture, the multiculturalism and then of course the friendliness of the people.”
New Canadians signing their Oath or Affirmation of Citizenship form. June 27, 2023 (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
For Simmons, he says he’s happy to have Canadians come as guests to be able to see the ceremonies themselves.
“It’s wonderful when guests who come, who were born in Canada, and they always come up to me and say I didn’t know this thing existed, or I didn’t realize this was happening or isn’t this wonderful? Then the word gets out that these ceremonies are so important,” Simmons said.
For the Escano family, they will be celebrating by doing something Canadian.
“I told my son because after this is lunchtime. I said we better do something really good, what about Tim Hortons?” Bernadita laughed.
“Or poutine or maybe we can go get BeaverTails on our way home.”
35 new Canadians celebrating their citizenship. June 27, 2023. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
