September 26, 2014—EDMONTON, AB— Over the past two weeks, Edmonton welcomed approximately 750 new Canadian citizens from more than 90 countries at six ceremonies at the Stanley A. Milner Library.
Ceremonies like these demonstrate how the government is working to make the citizenship program more efficient and helping more people realize their dream of becoming Canadian sooner. Recent changes to the Citizenship Act, which received Royal Assent on June 19, 2014, will allow for further improvements to the efficiency of the citizenship program. The new streamlined decision-making process and other changes to the Citizenship Act are expected to bring the processing time for citizenship applications down to under one year and reduce the citizenship application backlog by more than 80 percent by 2015-2016.
“Our government is proud to welcome these new citizens as Canadians. The impressive number of individuals participating in these ceremonies, and embracing the rights, responsibilities and privileges that come with Canadian citizenship, demonstrates that our Government’s changes to the citizenship program are working.”
Chris Alexander, Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister
“I would like to express my sincere congratulations to each and every new Canadian who recently took the Oath of Citizenship here in Edmonton. I commend you for reaffirming your commitment to Canadian values and traditions. Our Government is so proud to welcome new Canadians who will contribute to the vibrancy of our communities in and around Edmonton, and we will continue to improve the citizenship process so that new citizens are welcomed to the Canada more quickly.”
Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health, Regional Minister for Northern Alberta and Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Spruce Grove
Kevin Menard
Minister’s Office
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-954-1064
Media Relations
Communications Branch
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
613-952-1650
CIC-Media-Relations@cic.gc.ca
Building a stronger Canada: Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) strengthens Canada’s economic, social and cultural prosperity, helping ensure Canadian safety and security while managing one of the largest and most generous immigration programs in the world.
