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Rideau Hall, Sunday, July 1st, 2007
Welcome to Rideau Hall.
Of all the citizenship ceremonies over which I have presided as Governor General of Canada, this one is especially significant.
You are becoming members of our large Canadian family the year we are celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Citizenship Act and the very day we are celebrating our country’s 140th birthday.
What is more, you are taking your oath today in a place where Canadians gather, express themselves and celebrate, a place that is part of every Canadian’s heritage. That’s quite remarkable!
Today is a very special day for you. I know, because I have experienced it myself.
Every time I take part in a citizenship ceremony, I remember the moment that I became a Canadian.
I remember the last day on my native island, Haiti, which had become a prison for my family because of a merciless dictatorship.
There I was, a child of the South, a child of the sun, arriving in Montreal on a cold winter’s night in the middle of February. I remember it well.
I remember our readiness to start again from scratch and to put all our strength into the effort.
We came with nothing but our hope and courage, and that experience made me the person that I am today.
Leaving your home country to put down roots elsewhere is an experience that stays with us forever.
You must bring with you the hope that you can reinvent your life in a better place and the courage to accept the challenges and hardships that this will entail.
I know that you are taking root even at this very moment.
Becoming a citizen of a new country means embracing its values, taking part in its history, challenging perceptions, and creating new solidarities.
We are not alone in this experience. Since the very first citizenship ceremony—which took place on January 3, 1947—over 6 million new arrivals have become Canadian citizens, like you, like me. That is more people than the entire population of a Canadian province!
We have found here in Canada the ideal of a society in which all citizens enjoy equal rights.
Canadian citizenship comes with rights, of course, but it also comes with responsibilities.
I encourage you to take every opportunity you can to enrich our society with your unique contribution.
Democracy depends on our willingness to take action, right in the place where we live and where we choose to put down roots. In other words, in this generous country, where we have the privilege of dreaming big dreams, for the good of our loved ones and the entire community.
That is how our country is enriched, and how it prospers.
Our citizenship is a bond of fellowship between all those who make Canada what it is. And this bond of fellowship grows stronger every day because it is based on the values of justice and freedom that are the envy of the entire world.
Let me quote an excerpt from the first Canadian Bill of Rights, adopted and signed in 1960 by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, who named Canada’s first Francophone Governor General, Georges Vanier.
For me, these words represent a sign of hope while so many people around the world suffer under oppression:
“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I think wrong, and free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.”
That is what you have committed yourselves to today.
May happiness and success find you always. Happy Canada Day!