Visitors to Steveston can witness the official swearing in of 41 of their new fellow Canadians at a citizenship ceremony at the main stage of the Steveston Salmon Festival.
Christopher Kerr of Citizenship and Immigration Canada said the 41 new Canadians come from 20 countries.
They will pledge allegiance to the Queen and sign official papers at the stage at 8:30 a.m.
“It’s the exact same procedure that we follow during the rest of the week, but in this case it’s a sort of an enhanced ceremony,” said Kerr, who noted the selection process was random as the participants just so happened to be “ceremony ready” at this time.
The ceremony will be attended by local political representatives from all levels of government.
In 2013 Canada admitted 258,953 permanent residents, 13 per cent of whom came from China, which represents 20 per cent of the world’s population.
This will be the first public ceremony after controversial Bill C-24 was passed, which puts greater residency requirements on applicants and has clauses to strip dual citizens of Canadian citizenship in the event of acts of terrorism, treason or armed insurrection against Canada.
