Ceremony to mark 60 years of Canadian citizenship
Last Updated: Friday, February 16, 2007 | 8:45 AM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/02/16/citizenship-act.html
A group of people representing each province and territory will gather in Ottawa on Friday to be sworn in as new Canadians in a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of citizenship.
Eighteen families will take the oath of citizenship at the Supreme Court of Canada building, where the first such ceremony was held.
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean will speak and Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLaughlin will administer the oath.
The Citizenship Act officially came into force on Jan. 1, 1947.
Canada's first swearing-in ceremony took place two days later, when 26 people received citizenship certificates, including former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Since Confederation, people living in Canada were designated British subjects until after the Second World War, an event that many Canadians felt confirmed the country as a sovereign nation.
Paul Martin Sr., Liberal cabinet minister under four prime minister, was the driving force behind the idea of legalizing Canadian citizenship.
He resolved to press ahead with the idea after seeing the graves of the Canadian war dead at the military cemetery in Dieppe, said his son, former prime minister Paul Martin.
"These were young men who'd given their all for whom the description 'British subject' just simply was not applicable. He felt very strongly about it," said Martin.
Last Updated: Friday, February 16, 2007 | 8:45 AM ET
CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/02/16/citizenship-act.html
A group of people representing each province and territory will gather in Ottawa on Friday to be sworn in as new Canadians in a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of citizenship.
Eighteen families will take the oath of citizenship at the Supreme Court of Canada building, where the first such ceremony was held.
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean will speak and Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLaughlin will administer the oath.
The Citizenship Act officially came into force on Jan. 1, 1947.
Canada's first swearing-in ceremony took place two days later, when 26 people received citizenship certificates, including former prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
Since Confederation, people living in Canada were designated British subjects until after the Second World War, an event that many Canadians felt confirmed the country as a sovereign nation.
Paul Martin Sr., Liberal cabinet minister under four prime minister, was the driving force behind the idea of legalizing Canadian citizenship.
He resolved to press ahead with the idea after seeing the graves of the Canadian war dead at the military cemetery in Dieppe, said his son, former prime minister Paul Martin.
"These were young men who'd given their all for whom the description 'British subject' just simply was not applicable. He felt very strongly about it," said Martin.
