On Canada Day, Nizam Ali was guiding soon-to-be new Canadians to the seats under a sheltering fabric awning at historic Fort Langley.
Ali works out of the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada office in Surrey, were people are sworn in every week.
“The [citizenship] ceremony is a happy occasion,” he said.
This Canada Day marked 50 years of being a Canadian for Ali, who was a five-year-old child from Fiji when his family became Canadian.
For him, the only crisis he admits to was the shock of leaving the warm climate of Fiji to the occasionally freezing weather of B.C.
READ MORE: WATCH: Happy Canada Day Langley!
Other newcomers to Canada have had a considerably harder time of it, he observed.
“A lot of people, they’ve gone through a lot to come here.”
People like Dinah Harmon, one of the 49 who attended the special citizenship ceremony on Monday.
She sat beaming with her son, 17-year-old Adrian Capehart, waiting to say the wards that would make them Canadian.
“It’s freedom,” she replied when asked what it felt like.
“I grew up in a refugee camp.”
She recounted how her family fled Liberia, and how they spent 14 years in a camp in Ghana waiting to find a new home.
“Here we are now, free,” she said.
Her son described it as a victory for his mother.
“I’m happy for her because she worked hard to get us in this position,” Adrian observed.
She planned to have lunch with her family to celebrate, then go back to work at her job in Peace Arch Hospital.
Order of Canada Recipient Vickie Cammack administered the oath, with Township mayor Jack Froese, Langley City mayor Val van den Broek, MP John Aldga and MLA Rich Coleman among the dignitaries present.
Canada Day was marked by outdoor daytime celebrations in Aldergrove, Fort Langley and Willoughby that drew thousands.
Many showed their patriotic side, wearing hats and shirts with “Canada” in bold letters. There was a lot of red and white on view.
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Email: dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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