New citizens
Twenty-one local adults and children became Canadians on the country’s 150th birthday
KITCHENER — With glowing hearts, broad smiles — and maybe a tear or two here and there — they became citizens of Canada on its 150th birthday.
Led by presiding official Howard Dyck and joined by family members and friends, a group of 21 adults and children recited the oath of citizenship, received their certificates and proudly sung “O Canada” during a ceremony at Themuseum in Kitchener.
“What a joy it is that today’s ceremony is taking place on this historic occasion,” Dyck told the audience gathered in the atrium.
Among those becoming citizens was Leonardo Honorio, whose journey to Canada from Uruguay with his brother began on July 1, 2010, with a boat ride to Argentina and flights to Chile and Canada, where their mother was waiting.
Their first stop? Tim Hortons, naturally.
“It’s just great to be here,” Honorio said Saturday, a day shy of his 27th birthday. “Today, it means everything. I’m never forgetting this.”
He thanked his mother and her husband for giving him the opportunity to come to Canada, and his girlfriend, Dominique Spanovic, for “pushing me to be better and to be what I am.”
In recent days, as Honorio practised reciting the oath, he confided he’d end up in tears halfway through. Saturday was no exception, he later laughed. “I cried, like, four times … It’s a very special day.”
It’s a sentiment that was shared unanimously, both by the newest citizens and the audience members cheering them on.
“I am so excited,” said Beatrice Ebhodaghe, who became a citizen along with her daughters Nathania, 6, and Elizabeth, 5. Beatrice and her husband — who expects to become a Canadian citizen next year — had the children in England before coming to Canada about four years ago.
“It’s a fantastic experience and a joyous occasion,” said Richard Chokor, who took the oath alongside his wife, Fortune, and their three children Maryanne, David and Joy.
Originally from Nigeria, the family arrived in Canada in 2012 and live in Waterloo.
“It’s a day I looked forward to,” he said. “I’m really appreciative and grateful to God that it’s a fulfilled day.”
After reciting the oath as a group, the new citizens were greeted individually by a platform party that included Dyck, MP Raj Saini, MPP Daiene Vernile, Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, Themuseum’s David Marskell and RCMP Cpl. Mona Eichmann, resplendent in dress red serge.
In an address that acknowledged a rich aboriginal heritage here that long predated European settlement, Dyck talked about Canada’s vast geography and the challenges that faced early pioneers. “This unique experiment might well have ended in failure,” he noted.
But those early settlers persevered and built a country that’s known globally as a land of equality and opportunity, of peace and humanity, Dyck said.
He encouraged newcomers to continue to express and share their own cultures here, as “it makes Canada a better and more understanding nation,” he said. “We are, after all, a nation of immigrants.”
And he urged the new citizens to cast intelligent and informed ballots, to take good care of their new home, and to take advantage of the wealth of activities it offers.
Another citizenship ceremony was scheduled Saturday at Woodside National Historic Site in Kitchener, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada’s longest-serving prime minister.
“The day that you become a Canadian citizen is a memory that you will hold in your hearts forever,” Saini told those at Themuseum. “You are now part of the Canadian family.”