Pier 21 citizenship ceremony welcomes new Canadians

Thirty more people can vote in Canadian elections, apply for a Canadian passport, and call Canada home.

Tuesday afternoon, 30 people officially became Canadian citizens during a ceremony at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.

The new Canadians represent 11 different countries.

“I’m very happy and really proud I’m Canadian. It feels really good,” said Nisha Adhikari, who is from Nepal.

Her brothers, Ganga and Sudarsan Adhikari, also became citizens Tuesday. Ganga said the thing he is looking forward to the most about being Canadian is having the freedom to travel. He’s planning to apply for a Canadian passport in the next few weeks.

New Canadians officially become citizens after swearing the oath of citizenship. All other Canadians in the room were invited to join in and recite the oath along with them.

John McCallum, minister of immigration, refugees and citizenship, spoke at the ceremony, along with Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly.

During his speech, McCallum reminded the crowd that it doesn’t make a difference how long you’ve been Canadian.

Whether your family have been citizens for 150 years, or one hour, as Canadians “we are all equal,” he said.

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