April 3, 2014

Welcoming New Canadians!

Throughout the month of March approximately 33,700 people from 199 different countries were sworn in as citizens at 312 different citizenship ceremonies across the country. This number has doubled compared to March 2013.

The change in numbers is great for the Canadian Government as it shows the continuous improvements to our immigration system.  With the proposed changes for  Bill C-24, the Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act this shows significant improvements with decreasing the backlogs of citizenship applications.  If passed Bill C-24 will reduce wait times even further.  The proposed changes will bring the current citizenship processing times to under one year, and the current backlog will be reduced more than 80 percent by 2016.

This is what Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander had to say:

“Our government is proud to welcome our newest citizens to the Canadian family. A Canadian citizenship ceremony is a moving and emotional celebration that reaffirms one’s commitment to Canadian values and traditions. Our government will continue to make changes to the citizenship process so that newcomers become Canadian citizens more quickly.”