For Fapida, Saturday wasn’t just any other day, it was the day she officially became a Canadian citizen.
“I was originally born in Bangladesh, but family moved to Saudi Arabia. I lived there for 10 years and then we immigrated here,” explained the new Canadian.
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Fapida wasn’t allowed to go to university in Saudi Arabia so her family moved to Canada four years ago. Now she’s an environmental science student at the University of Saskatchewan.
“The experience has really been quite good. I’ve got freedoms that I have never had before. I’ve got to experience a lot of multi-culturalism, meet a lot of new people in the city and learn about them,” Fapida said.
For her, being a Canadian is synonymous with equality.
“It means to me that everyone should be treated equally and have equal rights for everyone.”
Fapida was among 26 others that were also granted citizenship in a ceremony at the 14th annual Ukrainian Day in the Park hosted by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
The festival brought over 3,000 people to Kiwanis Memorial Park in Saskatoon.
“In the first hour-and-a-half our attendance was higher than half of all of last year’s attendance,” explained festival chair David Prokopchuk.
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He said 15 per cent of the population in Saskatchewan has Ukrainian roots and in Saskatoon it’s even higher at 17 per cent. Prokopchuk added that he loves how the culture has added value to the city.
“We aren’t just a melting pot, we can be Canadians and still preserve our culture and bring something to this country.”
Prokopchuk loves that more non-Ukrainian people are coming to the festival each year because a big part of it is learning about the culture.
“More and more we’re seeing that these are not people of Ukrainian ancestry and we’re thrilled. That’s why we throw this party,” he said.
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