I sent in my application for Citizenship for myself and my sons on the 29th December 2003.
I received an acknowledgement of the applications on the 24th March 2004. I expected a 3 month
wait for this so it is running on time.
I received the study guide "A Look at Canada" and it seems OK, a bit dry where politics is concerned but
a good part of it is based on the English system so for me it is not so difficult.
The letter informs me that it will be between 8-10 months until I have done the test and sworn the oath
and become a Canadian citizen. Andrew and Paul do not have to sit the test as they are both under 18. Andrew is lucky because
he is now 15 and when we first came to Canada in 2000, the rules were then that anyone 15 or over did the test! Paul is not
too happy that he will not receive a welcome letter from his MP !
I've found a website with test questions on and I know several Canadians that can't answer them!
18 May 2004 - I received a letter from Citizenship Canada telling me that I asked for the name Kay Carbe
to be on my citizenship card and asking me to send proof of this exact name from provincial I.D.
This looks to me as if I am forced to have my middle name in on the card which is not a big deal but
they make it sound like one. I don't remember anywhere it telling you that must have your full name on the card. I seem to
remember it asked me what name I wanted, in which case, we all (purposely) missed out our middle names!
So just to help not slow things down further, I sent a note back along with copies of all our health cards.
Hopefully now they won't waste time sending a separate letter for Andrew and a separate letter for Paul! We shall see!
So, finally after 16 months waiting I sat my Citizenship Test on 12 April 2005. I had to drive to Barrie
for the first time on my own on Highway 400, which was more nerve racking than the test. The test was over and done with in
5 minutes and that was doing it and checking it! They don't tell you what you get, just a pass or fail.
I PASSED !!!
It was SO easy in comparison to the test I had been doing online it was almost a joke. I was told there
and then that the oath ceremony is on 28 April, just 2 weeks away! Normally the wait time is 3 months, but I did hear they
were backlogged (due to the strike last summer).
So we are all going to the ceremony, although I am the only one who needs to take the oath. The boys
will get their citizenship through me and of course, Mike is already a Canadian! Mike (for once) will be in charge of the
camera! It bothers me that I can't take photos because there are certain shots and ways I want to take them. That's the problem
of working at Black's (Canada's leading photography store), it makes me picky!
The ceremony was at 10am at Barrie City Hall. It was a nice ceremony and the judge talked about Canada being
a symphony of nationalities that are better together than as individuals. There were 38 new citizens from 19 different countries.
The UK was represented the most! But then again there were 3 of us and a family of 4 from Barrie (originally from Chester
and Somerset) so that made quite a few of us! there was no RCMP officer there whcih was a bit of a let down after being told
by a friend that there would be.
The judge posed with us for photos and after taking the 3 of us she insisted that Mike give the camera to
someone else and they could take the 4 of us with her.
We received a large certificate, a small citizenship card and 2 pins. One was a Canada pin and the other
pin was a Trillium, the flower of Ontario.
We then went to Kings Buffet in Barrie which is our favourite all-you-can-eat place in that area. They asked
us the ages of the boys and still only charged them as children. The amount of food they eat is not a child's appetite!
So now we are Canadian Citizens finally!! But we are still British too!! We are now duals!
