Fatima Zahra, 14, came to Canada from Bangladesh with her family five years ago. On Thursday, she along with her parents and younger brother officially became Canadian citizens.
“Before this, I kind of felt like an outsider, not really because the people here are really accepting, but now I can truly feel like someone who belongs here,” Zahra said.
READ MORE: ‘Now I belong’ 31 people become Canadian citizens in Halifax.
Thirty-nine new Canadians were sworn in as Canadian citizens at the Memorial Centre just before the Peterborough Petes faced off against the London Knights, Thursday evening.
“Tonight we had the first-ever Canadian citizenship ceremony in Ontario Hockey League history,” said Burton Lee, executive director or business operations for the Peterborough Petes.
“The ceremony was really, really special. We didn’t expect this … This was so nice, so nice,” said newly minted Canadian citizen, Kazi Kabir.
The New Canadians Centre Peterborough (NCC) partnered with the Petes to host the ceremony. The NCC was founded in 1979 to help refugees from Vietnam settle in Canada.
READ MORE: ‘I wanted a place to call home’: 60 new Canadians take citizenship oath in Toronto
“The ones that were here tonight, they decided that they wanted to do it at a hockey game so they made it work,” Lee said.
Peterborough police chief, Murray Rodd, and Minister of the Status of Women Maryam Monsef gave out the citizenship certificates.
“I feel like I am born again. I feel like I was born 33 years ago, but right now again I am like 15 minutes old,” Elyas Akeed said after officially becoming a citizen.
The 39 new citizens also got free tickets to the hockey game.
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