Citizenship ceremony at CFB Shilo a ‘beautiful event’
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/08/2015 (3913 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
CFB SHILO — “For those of you becoming Canadians, today is a milestone day in your lives,” Judge Jim McCrae said during his opening address to the crowd gathered at CFB Shilo for the base’s first-ever citizenship ceremony.
A total of 102 people from 20 countries took the oath of citizenship at the military base on Friday morning, with 100 more registered to do the same that afternoon.
Lori Truscott, Shilo’s public affairs officer, says Citizenship and Immigration Canada asked several months ago if it could use the base as the venue for the event.
“For us, it’s an opportunity to meet and show the new citizens of Canada, and the immigrant community of Brandon in particular, who we are,” Truscott said. “We don’t normally get an opportunity to do that.”
More than half of the crowd on Friday morning was made up of people showing support for friends and family who were taking the final step to becoming citizens.
“I have my daughter and my two cousins with me. They are happy to support me today in this beautiful event,” said Marie Joyce Romeo, who moved to Brandon from Mauritius, a tiny island off the coast of Africa, five years ago.
As new Canadians received certificates and signed a document confirming they had taken the oath, supporters with cameras, phones and tablets clamoured to capture the moment.
Kerselin Fumier is also from Mauritius, and most of his family still lives on the island.
“As soon as I get home, I will get on Skype to talk to them because they are so proud of me today,” said Fumier, who had been waiting for seven years to become a citizen.
Fumier says his home country is similar to Canada in its multiculturalism and languages.
“I speak French and English and Creole, so it was not a big deal to move (here),” he said.
Fumier is most looking forward to obtaining a passport so he can travel to the United States with his family.
For Maryna Kovalenko — who came to Brandon from Ukraine five years ago — becoming a Canadian citizen has inspired her to make new goals for her future.
“I dream to study and have a job,” Kovalenko said. “It doesn’t matter what it will be. Maybe I will become a yoga coach or an interpreter or something … I can be a part of Canadian society.”
Following an amendment in 2012, the operational guidelines for citizenship ceremonies state that itinerant services should not be held within 300 kilometres from a Citizenship and Immigration Canada office.
Since Brandon falls within that radius, citizenship ceremonies in the city have been few and far between — there were only two last year, with one happening during the Manitoba Summer Fair.
» ewasney@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @evawasney