Land of the Loon

[da_lj]

Friday's citizenship ceremony was a reasonably banal exercise in officialdom (not High Officialdom, but certainly not minimal either). The judge was the same man who presided over melted_snowball's citizenship last year. There were 48 New Canadians, from 20 countries. Unlike d's, there was no one from Iran or Afghanistan. The judge spoke at length about the

Comments

[dcseain]

I attended the citizenship ceremony for a friend's mother several years back. It was held in the auditorium of the Bryant Adult Education Center in Alexandria, VA.

An INS official presided. He thanked them for their years of living and working here, explained how they'd be able to vote now, then asked them to stand, and they repeated an oath:

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that

[melted_snowball]

There was one Afghan-Canadian at your ceremony.

lovecraftienne is a citizen by naturalization.
I can't think of any others...

[ketzie]

The allegience to the royals thing sticks in my craw. I'll probably do it anyway, though.

[valkryor]

Queen Elizabeth II is the head of our government, but she's more of a figurehead in that she signs major national documents (like the Canada Act in 1982, severing all ties of rule with the British Parliment/Monarchy) and is on Canadian money.

[poeticalpanther]

I am a naturalised Canadian; I affirmed my oath (rather than swearing, which was apparently uncommon enough in 1983 that they had to go look up whether that was allowed). But I have taken the oath twice, actually - once for my military service, and subsequently for my citizenship. Canadian immigrants were then allowed to serve for up to six months before receiving citizenship, so I actually signed up as a soldier before I was actually Canadian. Same Queen, though, so no difficulty there.

[melted_snowball]

The right to affirm, not swear, is actually a consequence of Quakerism.

(Matthew 5:37 says, "But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." As such, Quakers do not swear oaths.)

[poeticalpanther]

Well, I didn't know that. I was glad to be able to, though, because already at 17 I knew that making an oath on a god in which I didn't believe felt like being false.

[da_lj]

I'd guessed that your British citizenship, and moving here young enough, would mean that you received Canadian citizenship without any swearin'.

[icedrake]

I, having sworn the same oath you have, would volunteer t beat up any bad-mouthers of Her Majesty, should the need arise.(I first wrote it as "bat-mouthers," and am now fighting bizarre visuals)

[da_lj]

It's likely that bats22 would prefer not to mouth the Queen. For what it's worth.

[dawn_guy]

Liz was a hottie when she was young, but it seems disrespectful to mouth her.

On the other hand, take my word for it that her representative in Canada is someone worth overcoming that disrespect for.

[melted_snowball]

I think I have a hard time thinking of Queen Bettie as a hottie.