St. Patrick's High School students witnessed 25 new Canadians from seven different countries take the oath of citizenship Wednesday morning.
Justice George Springate travelled from Ottawa to conduct the ceremony, something the 78-year-old has done for many years since retiring in 2013.
Springate told the new Canadians to follow their dreams.
"I began playing football when I was 12 years of age," says Springate. "I really wanted to play in the Grey Cup game and so when I practiced I pretended I was in the Grey Cup game and I was a tight end and a field goal kicker. I happened by chance to be on a team that won the Grey Cup in 1970. 20 years I dreamed, a long time, dreams count. Your little sister, brothers, they're playing hockey or they're swimming on the weekend and the little guy, he's 8, he's thinking he's scoring a Stanley Cup winning goal. If he can do it and his dream can come true -- so can yours."
Springate says Canada brings in about 250,000 immigrants a year and about 150,000 of them become Canadians.
"It's a very important day for Canada," he says. "We accept and bring into our family, people who underwent a tremendous adventure. First, to get here and become a landed citizen and now to become a Canadian citizen. They had to pass tests and they wanted to become Canadians."
Springate says when he retired in 2003, former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Jason Kenney said he had sworn in over 500,000 new Canadians.
Svezlana Alekseeva and her twin 9-year-old children from Russia received their citizenship Wednesday.
"My husband, he's from Sarnia, so I came to Canada four and a half years ago," says Alekseeva. "It's a big day for us. We were waiting for this. It's a big thing."
She says the children were counting down the days until they would become Canadian and were very excited to go back to school to share the news with their friends.
The ceremony at St. Pat's ties in perfectly with the Grade 10 curriculum, where students take a Canadian civics course.
Justice George Springate tells 25 new Canadians to follow their dreams during today's citizenship ceremony St. Pat's High School. #SLont pic.twitter.com/vDYcZpbpg7
— Melanie Irwin (@MIrwinCHOKNews) May 3, 2017
