Photo by Braeden M.
WINDSOR –– A special ceremony was taken place for candidates of Canadian citizenship on Wednesday, September 27th, during St. Joseph’s Catholic High School’s celebration of their Canada 150 week. Mr. Polewski, a Religion Teacher at the school, was part of this event and had a big impact in his involvement. Laser News conducted an interview with Mr. Polewski to ask him about the Citizenship Ceremony.
As evident by the presentation, a lot of time and effort went into the ceremony, and Mr Polewski doesn’t regret a moment of it. He was especially happy with the team behind it and how they put a lot of thought into it. His main intention was to make the day a special moment of the students involved.
When asked why he wanted to be involved in the making of the ceremony, he recalls the story of his parents’ immigration to Canada. “I’ve never experienced it before, and my parents are immigrants themselves, and my whole family came over from Europe after World War II,” he says in a statement to Laser News. “Now it wasn’t all fancy when my parents and grandparents went through [the ceremony] and I wanted to see how our new Canadians were being received.”
One of the main highlights of the events was the dignitaries’ speeches, and Mr. Polewski was ecstatic with their visit! “I don’t know any of them and I’ve never heard them talk before. I was interested in what they had to say in their greeting and their welcoming,” he says about the dignitaries.
The visiting dignitaries of the Citizenship ceremony were Presiding Official Kristy Greenslade and Clerk of the Ceremony Daniel Farelli who administered the Oath of Citizenship for the new Canadians. Local dignitaries such as Nadia Desjardins, Supervisor of International Education (WECDSB); Larissa Dushime, Student at St. Joseph’s; David Labute, Principal of St. Joseph’s; and Charlie Sylvestre, History Teacher at St. Joseph’s were also among the list of guest speakers at the ceremony.
Becoming a new Canadian means never living the same life again, according to Mr Polewski. “It means a life changing event, life will never be the same for them, because now they’re in a new country, a new homeland and basically it’s the start of a new future for them.”
Mr. Polewski also recognizes the grand responsibility of becoming a new Canadian. He stresses that voting and letting your voice be heard in your country is important, and that all Canadians should make use of this privilege of democracy.
Our country is extremely welcoming and diverse, and no-one seems to describe this better than Mr. Polewski. To him, Canada is a mosaic, and every ethnicity is a part of it. He also is proud of the fact that Canada encourages ethnic identity and heritage.
Even with its jam-packed planning, Mr. Polewski was enthusiastic to have an event like the Citizenship Ceremony hosted by the school again. He would have liked it if it happened every year if possible. Mr. Polewski suggested some new features for the ceremony if the school were to do it again. “I think that next year, I would like to find out who the candidates for the citizenship are, what country they’re from, and have their flags represented on stage as well. I would like to have their countries represented showing that we welcome them wherever they’re coming from, and to say that now you are added to the cultural mosaic of Canada.”