Quebec Ushers In 750 New Canadians From 81 Countries On 30th April, 2014

02 May 2014

On April 30^th April, 2014, Montreal in Qebec, received about 750 new Canadian citizens from about 81 countries during three formal traditional-type and protocol-laced services in the city’s downturn area.

Ceremonies like these show how the government is performing its duty and work to enable the citizenship program to become more effective and helping people in realizing their aspirations of becoming Canadians. Also, it has been said/stated that the government’s suggested/recommended changes in Bill C-24, which goes by the name, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act, will decrease waiting times still more by rationalizing and systematizing the decision-making process even further.

It is being said that the proposed new changes will further decrease the wait times of the  processing time and will bring it down to 1 year. So also, the present stockpile/backlog of applications will be decreased further by 80% by the year 2015-16. According to statistics available, Canada as a country has witnessed the highest continuous levels of immigration in its history. This figure stands at about 250,000 arrivals each year. So, as a consequence, the claims and clamour for citizenship have also increased accordingly and stand at 30% each year. In 2014 alone, 17,000 new citizens have been ushered in as new citizens at 90 ceremonies in the city of Montréal.

For a new Canadian, the citizenship rite (or, ceremony) is a conventional one and one which symbolizes his/her formal entry into the Canadian family. The ceremony itself is a ‘singular and one of a kind’ type part of Canadian civic life. It is one of the few special times/periods where all the Canadians and especially the new citizens formally think about and contemplate on the rights, responsibilities, etc, of being a Canadian.