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NOTES FOR REMARKS BY

THE HONOURABLE MONTE SOLBERG

MINISTER OF CITIZENSHIP
AND IMMIGRATION

at a

Citizenship Ceremony

Vancouver, B.C.
October 12, 2006

Check against delivery

* * * * *

It is an honour and a privilege for me to welcome you as Canada’s newest citizens. Thank you for choosing Canada.

It was in this very room this past August that I met an incredible young woman named Milagros Elizabeth PALACIOS INFANTAS.

Milagros came to Canada from Peru to join her sister and her parents. That day, she was joining her family in another way too- she was becoming Canadian. And she shared with us the story of her emotional experience of becoming a citizen.

Milagros spoke sincerely about her love for her new country and the many opportunities it provided her. These opportunities were not only related to work and education, but also to basic freedoms like the freedom to express her opinions, and to question authority. She spoke of the benefits of volunteering and encouraged her fellow newcomers to take this up as a way of integrating faster into Canadian society. When she first arrived, just over four years ago, Milagros started volunteering at the Fraser Institute. There she met many good friends and contacts and is back now honing her research and writing skills to help her get her PhD in Economics. She really is a remarkable woman.

Becoming a citizen in a new country, that’s really something special. Because no one can choose what citizenship they are born into. But you have chosen to become Canadian and that is because you believe in what Canada stands for. You believe in the Canadian values, in the freedoms, in the laws and in the customs- just as Milagros did, just as we all do.

A few days from now, Citizenship Week begins in Canada. And it’s the perfect time to celebrate your new citizenship. It’s a time to take pride in being a part of the best country in the world.

And as new Canadians, you are making a commitment to embrace Canada and what it stands for. Now that you are citizens, you join millions of other Canadians as ambassadors for our ideals, the same ones that made you choose to live here. It’s not enough to say you’re a Canadian; you have to be a Canadian.

We carry out our duties as citizens every time we vote. We do it by obeying the law; and by showing our respect for the equality of others. We meet our responsibilities as citizens when we promote and protect these ideas in our families and communities.

As citizens of Canada we represent dozens of different cultures, beliefs and religions but we live together and work together in a society where harmony is the rule and not the exception, and where everyone really does have the chance to get ahead. We’ve been able to do that because, for generations, newcomers and those who were born here have believed in what it means to be Canadian.

And that means we are more alike than we are different. Even though we come from different backgrounds, we have different knowledge and different skills, when we come together with a common vision, we can accomplish great things.

And Canada truly is a great thing.

Thank you, welcome and congratulations.