Toronto Maple Leafs tickets, maple syrup among gifts for new Canadian citizens
Some got to go to an NHL game. Others got free coffee. The gifts that newly minted Canadians receive at citizenship ceremonies vary widely, government documents show.
thestar.com
April 29, 2015
Joanna Smith
Some got to go to an NHL game. Others got free coffee. Still more got maple syrup, or those most coveted gifts of all: pens, mugs, and key chains.
The response that Citizenship and Immigration Canada provided to an order paper question filed by Liberal MP Adam Vaughan (Trinity-Spadina) show the types of gifts handed out to newly minted Canadian citizens at their oath-taking ceremonies vary widely across the country.
“It’s like the lottery. If your citizenship comes up during the hockey season, you might get free tickets. If it comes up in the summer, you might just get packed into a church basement. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the largesse,” Vaughan said Wednesday.
The Toronto MP told the Star his query stemmed from his staff attending a citizenship ceremony held at the Air Canada Centre, which is in his riding, lat year, and noticed the new Canadians were receiving Maple Leafs jerseys and tickets to the game along with their right to get a passport and vote.
“It just seemed odd that it suddenly had this sort of gift-bag component to it - that the ceremony itself wasn’t significant enough,” said Vaughan.
“There are a lot of Tim Hortons (gift cards) and maple syrup,” Vaughan said of the list of gifts released in response to his order paper question.
The response also included a list of third-party sponsors as well as locations outside government facilities where citizenship ceremonies took place, including many schools, parks, sports arenas, museums and a salmon festival in Richmond, B.C.
“It’s a citizenship ceremony and I think it should be a fairly solemn and momentous occasion in someone’s life. It just seems strange that it has been reduced to a sort of photo op, a product placement opportunity,” Vaughan.
Vaughan said he found it especially odd given the Conservative government has spoken about the importance of the moment when defending its decision ban the wearing of the face-covering niqab while swearing the citizenship oath.
“You can’t show your culture, but corporate culture can be rained down upon you. It’s a very ambiguous set of messages that are sent,” Vaughan said.
A spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander did not grant an interview to the Star on Wednesday, but emailed a statement saying the government wants to make ceremonies memorable.
“We strive to ensure each ceremony is memorable, and a fitting welcome to the Canadian family,” spokesman Kevin Menard wrote in the email.
WHAT EVERYONE GETS: Citizenship and Immigration Canada gives out the same swag to all new citizens, including: a congratulatory letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a Canadian flag made of cloth or nylon, a book about Canadian symbols and a year of free admission to more than 1,000 museums, historic sites and cultural institutions nationwide.
FOR SPORTS FANS: Tickets to games played by the Toronto Raptors, Maple Leafs and Argonauts, the Ottawa Senators, the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers; jerseys, hats, T-shirts and scarves featuring the logos of professional sports teams; a FIFA World Cup of Soccer coin.
FOR BOOKWORMS: A book by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, a picture book about Canada, various leaflets, library bags and bookmarks.
CANADIANA: Maple syrup, Tim Hortons gift cards, a copy of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and getting to watch a theatrical performance called, “A Tribute to Confederation, Canada and Sir John Eh”, put on by Odyssey Showcase this January in Kingston, Ont.
