Picture of the Week: Lonely Dog

As of this morn­ing, 12:30…I am Canadian!

We arrived at the Sci­ences and Tech­nol­ogy museum around 11:00 am. It didn’t start very well: it was rain­ing and there had been a power out­age and we queued in the dark. Have you ever tried to sign a bunch of papers with the help of a flash­light? Not my best sig­na­ture, I’d bet. I signed the media release (because the cer­e­mony could be taped), cer­ti­fied that I wasn’t a crim­i­nal, handed out my per­ma­nent res­i­dent card and was finally allowed in the museum’s audi­to­rium. Feng and my friends sat at the back and I was at the front, along with all 117 citizens-to-be… from 49 coun­tries!

We waited in the dark for a while but even­tu­ally, the power came back. Phew. The clerk intro­duced her­self and we all rose for the judge, her honor Suzanne Pinel to enter.

The judge’s speech, part of it in French and part of it in Eng­lish, was very mov­ing. She wel­comed us all in Canada, and stressed on our new rights and respon­si­bil­i­ties. She also acknowl­edged that the road to come to Canada may have been dif­fi­cult and she thanked us for choos­ing it as our new home: “you can be what­ever you want here and you have already suc­ceeded to me”.

Cit­i­zen­ship Court Judge led every­one in recit­ing the Oath of Cit­i­zen­ship, as we all stood, the right hand risen:

I swear that I will be faith­ful and bear true alle­giance to Her Majesty Queen Eliz­a­beth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Suc­ces­sors, and that I will faith­fully observe the laws of Canada and ful­fill my duties as a Cana­dian citizen.

Then, we all received our cit­i­zen­ship cer­tifi­cate, the cit­i­zen­ship card, a small Canada pin and a Cana­dian flag from the judge. We even got free museum passes! Judge Pinel took the time to con­grat­u­late us all one by one, and said some­thing nice to each of us.

We all rose again to sing “O Canada”, the national anthem… my first time singing it as a Cana­dian. Judge Pinel invited all the kids to come on stage to sing (she is also a famous chil­dren enter­tainer!) and I saw a few wet eyes here and there.

No more per­ma­nent res­i­dent card for me. I’m now the proud owner of a Cana­dian cit­i­zen­ship card, plus a let­ter from M. Harper (I def­i­nitely wouldn’t vote for him but any­way…). Next step? Chag­ing my SIN card next week, and apply­ing for a Cana­dian passport.

Can you believe that? I’m Cana­dian! Thanks Canada for adopt­ing me, I promise I’ll be good.

Juge Suzanne Pinel	Get­ting my Cit­i­zen­ship Card And Cer­tifi­cate From The Judge…
I Am Canadian!	Not A Per­ma­nent Res­i­dent Anymore…
Vive Le Canada!	O Canada And The Let­ter From M. Harper

Related posts:

1. Cit­i­zen­ship Exam Day In Ottawa
2. The Pros and Cons to Cana­dian Citizenship
3. Thanks for the Party… Eh!
4. I Belong Here… And There Too
5. Happy Birth­day, Canada!