Leafs tickets, Canucks jerseys: some of the gifts handed out at citizenship ceremonies

Toronto Raptors tickets, Toronto Maple Leafs tickets, Vancouver Canucks tickets, and a leaflet from Parks Canada.

Each one of those is an example of a gift given out to a new Canadian during at least one of the dozens of citizenship ceremonies held across Canada.

Adam Vaughan, the MP for Trinity-Spadina, filed an order paper in Ottawa last week asking the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration what gifts were handed out during the ceremonies.

The response lists everything from Canadian flag pins, to books, to tickets to major sporting events – mostly paid for by corporate sponsors.

“Citizenship ceremonies are momentous occasions and significant and they seem to be trivialized,” Vaughan said referring to the corporate sponsorship of some events.

So how are the gifts chosen? Well, it depends on if there is a corporate sponsor. The Government of Canada’s website explains there are four different types of ceremonies; standard, private, enhanced, and reaffirmation.

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Enhanced ceremonies have a bit more pomp than the others and are held when there’s an external partner, a special guest (anything from a school principal to the Lieutenant Governor), or a designated speaker.

These events can also be sponsored which can lead to some extra gifts for new Canadians.

But Vaughan suggested the wallets opened when politicians showed up.

“When a minister shows up they seem to go out of their way to sprinkle the funds around and turn the whole thing into a circus,” he said.

Kevin Menard, the press secretary for the minister of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, said the government is “proud to have strengthened the value of Canadian citizenship.”

“We are proud to have strengthened the value of Canadian citizenship, and to have welcomed a record number of new citizens in 2014,” he said in an email. “We strive to ensure each ceremony is memorable, and a fitting welcome to the Canadian family.”

Everyone gets gifts including a letter from the prime minister, a Canadian flag, a book about Canadian symbols, and a year of free admission to museums.

But some of the gifts doled out in enhanced ceremonies can be far more extravagant and have included tickets to Leafs, Canucks, Argos, Senators, and Oilers games, as well as jerseys, hats and various other gear from the teams. There has also been various Canadiana – items like a book by former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, maple syrup, or a Tim Hortons’ gift card.

He said some of the gifts are reasonable – like passes to Fort York, museums, or cultural institutions.

“I think we can understand those sorts of relationships but getting a sporting goods company to showcase hockey sweaters and then hand out tickets to the Raptors game, that’s not citizenship, that’s feels more like a door prize at a convention.”