65 Steinbach Immigrants Officially Become Canadian

65 immigrants from 11 different countries gained their Canadian citizenship on Friday alongside supporting friends and family.

The special ceremony was held at the Mennonite Heritage Village and facilitated by Eastman Immigrant Services.

Volunteer and Integration Coordinator Charlene Penner indicates that acquiring one’s citizenship is no short process. In addition to a required three years spent within the country, immigrants must take a knowledge test, a language test, and attend this final ceremony where they swear an oath to Canada in both English and French.

During the event, in which many government and local representatives were present, each new Canadian received a certificate, a pin, and a Canadian flag. Penner implies these are only small tokens honoring a momentous day in their lives.

Among those who were granted this citizenship on Friday are Denis and Lyudtsiya Mudriyevskiy, a Russian couple who moved here four years ago and have since had two kids. Lyudtsiya says their kids automatically got citizenship when they were born and she is excited to join them. “This gives me a lot of opportunities and I’m happy to be a part of this big country,” says Lyudtsiya, “Now we are not only immigrants we are citizens! It's a big deal.”

Another man, David Stoll, came to Canada in 2000 and now, 18 years later, finally became a Canadian. “It's a beautiful life here,” observes Stoll, “This land has four seasons, summer, winter, spring, and [fall], I like that. This is my life. This is my home.”

Penner congratulates all 65 new Canadians on their remarkable efforts and officially welcomes them to the country. “It was a really exciting event, she concludes, “This is something people worked very hard for and that they can be very proud of.”