By Vancouver Sun |
“A better life, hope and a brighter future”: Sixty new Canadians sworn in on Canada’s birthday
Bill and Phyllis Neufeld are British Columbians born and bred.
As Canadians — born in the tiny pulp-and-paper-mill town of Ocean Falls on B.C.’s Central Coast — the Neufelds never had to take an oath of citizenship.
But they have. A few dozen times in what has become an annual Canada Day tradition.
Along with 60 new Canadians from 36 countries, the Neufelds, sitting in the audience in a ballroom at Canada Place, proudly raised their right hands and pledged allegiance to the Queen and to do right by their country.
“It’s a reaffirmation of our citizenship,” said Bill. “It makes us aware how lucky we are that we are born here.”
It’s also their way to welcome their new fellow Canucks into the family, said Bill, who derives pleasure from witnessing such a momentous occasion. It can get pretty emotional, he admitted. “But I don’t break into tears or anything.”
“I do,” said Phyllis.
A bagpiper kicked off the proceedings, followed by cadets hoisting Canadian flags, a Mountie in red serge, military officers in uniform and dignitaries.
Gabriel George of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation provided words of welcome and a traditional blessing and song.
The ceremony touched on reconciliation with First Nations, the original inhabitants of Canada who had welcomed early settlers but not reaped equal benefits from the country, and the need to do better.
B.C. Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin presided over the ceremony, hearkening back to history and the initial waves of immigrants who came to Canada fleeing hardship and deprivation.
“You may have faced great hardship and adversity before coming to Canada and you all made sacrifices to be here. I thank you for answering our invitation to make Canada your home,” she told the crowd before leading them in the oath of citizenship.
Jerry and Joyce Kirby watched as their daughter Kenji, 7, performed her first duty as a Canadian: Helping cut a giant Canada Day cake studded with raspberries.
“I am so honoured to be Canadian,” said Jerry, who works in IT. “It’s a very wonderful feeling. I am very emotional I could cry right now.”
The family, originally from the Philippines, moved to Vancouver in 2015 under the federal skilled worker program. Canada, is “the land of opportunity,” said Joyce, a gateway to a better life.
Emilie Cautaert left Belgium in 2012 for what she thought would be a one-year expat stint at an aerospace manufacturing company and ended up staying for love.
She was seduced by Vancouver’s easy accessibility to nature and the diversity and multiculturalism she encountered daily in the city and in her office — a situation that would have been quite rare in her home country, she said.
“In Vancouver, all different nationalities work together. It was new for me. When you come from Belgium, everybody is from Belgium.”
Cautaert also met her husband, Alex Swinnard, on her first day at work. They are expecting their first child in August.
Coming to Canada was a dream come true for Rajesh Chakraborty, who moved to B.C. in 2014 with his wife and son.
Chakraborty wanted to work in animation, but there wasn’t much of an industry in India. He had a good job, a stable life, but his love of animation drove him to seek opportunities in Canada.
“It’s been my dream to come here and work, now I can say I am living my dream,” he said, smiling ear-to-ear.
His 14-year-old son Devraj, who attends David Thompson Secondary in Vancouver, took the occasion in stride.
When asked what he was looking forward to the most as a new Canadian, he said: “I’m not really looking forward to anything. Just living my life.”