Old and new citizens come together to celebrate

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Published on Thursday, September 21, 2017

Christine Waddell
About 60 new Canadian citizens and 40 long-time citizens joined together to celebrate.  Neepawa and Area Settlement Services and Neepawa Rotary Club partnered to hold Celebration of Citizenship to thank people for making the final decision to become Canadians.

Kate Jackman - Atkinson
Neepawa Press

On Sunday, close to 100 new and long time Canadians gathered in Neepawa to celebrate citizenship. Held on Sept. 17, Celebration of Citizenship was organized by Neepawa and Area Settlement Services (NASS) and the Neepawa Rotary Club and aimed to acknowledge and welcome newcomers who have recently become Canadian citizens.

Don Walmsley, director of NASS, said their board wanted to hold an event to recognize the people who had made the final choice to become Canadian citizens, “We wanted to find a simple way to say ‘Thank you, we appreciate having you here as part of our country.’” He added that when they approached Rotary about partnering on the event, the service club was enthusiastic about the message.

This is the first such event held in the community and Walmsley said that feedback from both the new Canadians and long-time citizens was positive. “It was an unqualified success,” he said, adding the feedback was that it was “warm” and had a “feeling of bringing together”. About 60 recent Canadian citizens and 40 long-time citizens attended the event.

Walmsley explained that the event wasn’t a citizenship ceremony but included a brief program of music and speeches, followed by refreshments and visiting. “The speakers were great,” said Walmsley, adding, “they were poignant and relevant”.

Walmsley said they were “overwhelmed” with how well the event went. “It’s a testimony of integration, [newcomers] being part of the community, being welcomed and recognized,” he continued, explaining, “Immigration is the integration of newcomers and [long time citizens] working and collaborating together.”