NEW CANADIANS SAVOUR A DAY THEY WON’T FORGET
High school students raise the bar for future citizenship ceremonies
Raza Siddiqui began his day Thursday well aware that it would be one of the most memorable of his life. “I had a dream to live in Canada, where my family would have opportunity, safety and security,” says the 36-year-old geologist who came to Canada from Pakistan in 2014. “It is hard to say in just a few words why this is so special.”
I speak with the father of two young girls at the conclusion of a ceremony where he, his wife Tabinda and two little girls have just been granted their Canadian citizenship, along with 77 other new Canadians.
“It was surprising and quite emotional,” he says of seeing the students from H.D. Cartwright School lining the hallways leading from the gym to the reception room, clapping and cheering the new citizens along their journey past lockers and classrooms.
“My little ones enjoyed all the attention.”
Throughout the year, the federal government’s Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship stages many citizenship ceremonies in the city. For more than a decade, I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing and reporting on the varied types of ceremonies and the diverse individuals who take the citizenship oath.
Some of those have included a pre-Christmas ceremony in 2010, where “Santa Claus” showed up and reaffirmed his own Canadian citizenship; a 2014 ceremony where Jose Neto, a native of Brazil who had been blinded by a stray bullet six years earlier, made his love of his new country official; and the blockbuster 2012 event where 100 new Canadians were declared citizens as part of the Calgary Stampede’s 100th anniversary celebrations.
When it comes to staging a citizenship ceremony to remember, though, the Grade 9 kids at H.D. Cartwright School have raised the bar for future ceremony hosts.
The packed gym of new citizens, their families, students, teachers and staff are treated to a musical performance by the northwest school’s band; a group of students read a welcome poem for the honoured guests, in no less than nine different languages; the gym and hallways of the school are decorated in Canadian red everywhere; and at the post-reception ceremony, they serve up everything from Manitoba cinnamon buns to Yukon butter tarts.
“This is a kid-driven event,” says principal Matt Fell. “They do all the decorations, the flags, the food.”
It’s all part of their Grade 9 citizenship class, which for the past five years or so has included the students helping to stage the school’s annual citizenship ceremony.
“It makes the experience of becoming a Canadian citizen real for them,” he says. “They experience the joy and they get to meet the new citizens and hear their stories of the often difficult journeys they’ve taken to get here.”
Takele Garemeu is just one of many who have a tale to tell. The 27-year-old arrived in Canada a decade ago, a teenage refugee alone and afraid. It was still better than what he had left behind. “My family was separated, we had no freedom and there was war,” says the native of Ethiopia. “There wasn’t much hope for me if I stayed.”
You’d never guess at the past trauma when he smiles broadly while getting his photograph taken with a Mountie in red serge.
“I have been waiting 10 years for this. It is a dream come true.”
For Romain Coquin, the journey to his newly adopted home was one born from a desire for adventure rather than desperation.
“I love France, but I feel my future is brighter in Canada,” says the 31-year-old native of France’s Normandy region. Coquin and his wife Sue, a native of Mexico, came here just under six years ago. Since then, they’ve lived in three different Canadian cities and welcomed daughters Luna, 4, and Camilla, 2.
Like Raza Siddiqui, Coquin also started Thursday knowing it would be a day to remember for him and his young family. Still, the Grade 9 kids’ efforts have left him doubly impressed.
“They did an amazing job,” says the man who works in hotel management. “It was already special for us, but this makes it even better.”