Cochrane residents will have the opportunity to help 50 new Canadians celebrate their newly-minted citizenship during a ceremony at Mitford Park tomorrow.
“We decided as a team at the town’s Recreation, Culture, & Arts Department that we wanted to embrace the new equity inclusion element of our Cochrane initiative,” said Tracy Brooker, manager of the department.
The ceremony, which starts at 3:00 p.m., will be officiated by the Immigration Refugee and Citizenship Canada Committee and is special due to its venue.
“We found out that the only other (citizenship) ceremony that they typically have offsite is at Heritage Park in Calgary. So we’re hosting one for the first time and we think it’s going to be really cool,” Brooker said.
The ceremony will swear in 40 adults and 10 children from Britain, China, Hong Kong, Gambia, Guatemala, India, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Tanzania, the United States, Sudan, and Vietnam. The Town of Cochrane Equity and Inclusion Committee will be covering the cost of the chairs for the new Canadians and their families at the ceremony.
“We thought it’d be a great way to embrace our growing community because we have a lot of new ethnicities coming into Cochrane. It’s kind of a neat way to celebrate multiculturalism as well,” Brooker explained.
Town of Cochrane Mayor Ivan Brooker and Banff-Airdrie Member of Parliament Blake Richards will be guest speakers the ceremony. The town’s Family & Community Support Services manager Susan Flowers will be playing the bagpipes for the event.
The judge presiding at the ceremony is Judge Joseph Woodard and on the on-site clerk is Cameron Bruce. Cochrane RCMP will be on-site as well to declare the ceremony open and closed.
Following the ceremony, the Choral Waves Choir will sing the national anthem and kick off the evening entertainment for the Canada Day celebration. Big Hill Pizza will be serving complimentary pizza and refreshments to the new citizens.
