I am Canadian

I have always enjoyed Canada Day and not just because it is a holiday but because it is a day when everyone seems in the mood to celebrate. It is a day where the red in the flag seems brighter and everyone seems prouder to be a Canadian. However, I’m not sure that those of us home-grown Canadians truly understand how blessed we are to be a Canadian.

Canada Day has been more special to me in recent years because the other half of our family became Canadian citizens just five years ago. There was a wonderful ceremony at the Confederation Building, well attended and a quick glance around the room let everyone see the new Newfoundland and Labrador that is emerging. It was a truly multi-cultural experience.

It was clear to me that everyone receiving citizenship was excited and proud. There were friends and in some cases family there to cheer them on and to share in this special occasion. It was no different for us. We sat there beaming with pride and soaking up every word. It was a wonderful way to celebrate Canada Day and later we continued that celebration with a gathering of many of our friends and family. I know it is a day that we will remember forever.

However, the road to that wonderful day wasn’t an easy one. There is a misconception that Canada’s doors are wide open for any and all to enter. This is not true. Immigration is a challenging and often intimidating process. It starts with the very difficult decision to leave your home country. For many I’m sure this decision doesn’t come easy. Political unrest and even war to those of us who have never experienced it might seem like the perfect reasons to go somewhere else but it just isn’t that simply. There are so many things to consider.

Think about all the little things that you may have struggled with when you took your last holiday; driving on the other side of the road; none of the same brands of beverages; ordering dinner in a different language but then a couple weeks later you’re back home again. Now think about spending the rest of your life in the place you holidayed, far from friends and family. For most people immigration is a forever thing.

My experience with the immigration process was somewhat secondhand but extremely enlightening as I watch from the sidelines; the visas; the paperwork, the interviews, more paperwork, additional interviews, the costs, the legal advice and the struggles to adjust to so many new things and of course the months and years of waiting and wading through the process . This is definitely not for the faint of heart.

I remember distinctly the summons to an interview in Buffalo and Detroit. We were informed that the children were required to be there at this interview. It was flight costs to Toronto for everyone. Then rent a vehicle and drive to Buffalo; not a preferred holiday destination; only to be told the children were NOT required at the interview. No one even apologized and there was no discount to cover the several hundreds of dollars of that we had spent to accommodate the original request.

Once back home we continued the waiting game and continued our struggles to get everyone settled into their new country. I will state right up front that the first year is the most difficult as well as the most exciting. It is full of firsts.

There was that first day of driving on the “right” side of the road. There were the kids second “first” day at school. There was purchasing the first vehicle in your new country and then the buying that first home, just to mention a few of the obvious but there are the things that are no so obvious. Going to the grocery store and not recognizing any of the brands on the shelf. What to buy and how long before I discover with one I will like and what about the favourite things from home that you just can’t find here…more adjustments.

I finally decided that the process takes so long so that when you finally are an official Canadian citizen you have been Canadianized. You don’t need directions to the Confederation Building where the ceremony takes place and you are more than accustomed the side of the road that you take to get there.

Then you celebrate. Like most births all the pain of getting there is quickly forgotten and everyone stands and sings the national anthem…mumbling the French part and feeling that incredible sense of belonging and proudly announcing “I am Canadian”.