Citizenship 'the best Christmas gift I've ever had' say new Canadians
'This is my home now'
Tuesday in Charlottetown 70 people from 11 countries took the oath of Canadian citizenship — the final legal step to becoming a citizen.
It was a day these new Canadians had been waiting for for a long time — the end of their long journeys and the beginning of their lives as Canadian citizens.
"I'm the happiest person, because I've been waiting for this day for a very long time so today let me say this is the best Christmas gift I've ever had in my life," said Mogbonjubola Olanipekun, who moved to P.E.I. from Nigeria six years ago.
She said coming to Canada meant a better education for her husband and a safe place for her children to grow up.
"The weather is number one big challenge for me, but as times goes, I am fully adapted to it," she added. "This is my home now."
'I feel free'
For husband and wife Dung Nguyen and Hang Tat from Vietnam, coming to Canada five years ago and becoming Canadian citizens on Tuesday means more freedom and greater opportunities.
"I feel very happy and more chance to travel without visa requirement, I feel free to do what I think is good for me and for my family and I can learn a lot of things," said Nguyen.
"I want my children have a good education and good environment," he added.
The couple said they were nervous about the Canadian winters they had heard about, but said they have learned to love it.
"It's a long journey when our family moving here, and today everything come true, becoming Canadians," he said of the ceremony.
'I did, I got it!'
Originally from the Philippines, Fredecel Reyes came to Canada alone several years ago and can't believe how far she's come since then.
"I work in Taiwan for six years — it's hard there, it's hard to earn money, there is a little bit discrimination. But then I decide to move to Canada," Reyes said.
In P.E.I. she worked long hours at a fish plant for four years to support her parents and six younger siblings back home. Now she has a husband and two children here. "I'm so happy and glad," she said.
"It's a new life, a new brand new life. I'm so grateful and thankful that I was here now and I'm a Canadian, and I'm so blessed, because after all the hardship that I did, I got it!" she said, waving a small Canadian flag and choking back tears.
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With files from Jessica Doria-Brown