Citizenship ceremony at YYC Calgary International Airport welcomes dozens of new Canadians

New residents take their oaths of citizenship Dozens of people were at Calgary International for Canada Day to participate in a formal ceremony to become Canadian. Kevin Green reports.

July 1 was a very special day for 51 people who took part in a citizenship ceremony at Calgary’s airport on Sunday, taking oaths to officially become Canadians for the first time in their lives.

Coming from all sorts of countries around the world, from Australia to Zimbabwe, all of the participants say they came to the country to seek a better life for themselves and their families and are proud to finally call themselves Canadian.

Lancelot Nyandoro, originally from Zimbabwe, says his children had emigrated to Canada years ago and had told him all the good things about the country and that prompted him to come here too.

“Originally, my children were here, they are citizens of Canada. So they said ‘dad, why not come with us and join us because it’s a beautiful country’.”

His daughter Kearon Nyandoro says it’s great to have close family in Canada with her especially because of the periods of unrest that do take place back home.

“There’s a time of instability back home, so having him here gives us a little bit of peace of mind.”

Now, she hopes Lancelot will have an easier life.

“We had to convince them to leave a lot of things back home. They have some farming they do there. Bringing them here and telling them they’ve retired. They can retire here and not work as hard. Coming here away from our extended family was a little harder, but we’re glad to have them here.”

Another man, Enofe Igbinoba, came to Calgary to advance his career and thanks God for the chance to come here and become Canadian.

“It is a better place to bring my children. The quality of education and the quality of life as well. It’s a lot of opportunity if you are hardworking and you are bound to get something good for your family going.”

While many new residents have come from countries of unrest and as refugees, some of them, like Mick Carroll from Australia, came here to have the opportunity to enjoy more of Canada’s natural beauty.

“I came here on a working holiday and I just love the mountains and the outdoors. I still have a bucket list of things I want to see and things to do. I just stuck around.”

All of the new Canadians had to take a citizenship test to be here and Carroll says that with all the similarities between Australia and Canada, it was a snap.

“It wasn’t too bad, there’s a lot of history, a lot about Parliament. It’s very similar to Australia, with Parliament and being a Commonwealth country. There wasn’t as many sport questions, which I love, but there were plenty of hockey questions.”

The day was also a proud one for even some of the Canadian residents who took part in the event, such as Irene Pfeiffer, the citizenship judge who presided over the day.

“It is absolutely phenomenal. I think that we live in our own cocoons in our own community and we forget how diverse Canada is. These people have given up so much to be here. I’m humbled to come and do this when I’m asked.”

According to Calgary Economic Development, Calgary is home to 240 different ethnic origins and is ranked third in the country for proportion of visible minorities.

(With files from Kevin Green)