Ottawa, Thursday, October 25, 2018 – Today at VIA Rail Canada’s (VIA Rail) Ottawa Station, 40 new citizens from 22 countries were sworn in as Canadian citizens during a ceremony organized by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, the Institute for Canadian Citizenship (ICC) and VIA Rail, in the presence of Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Charlie Foran, CEO of ICC, Annie Smith St. Georges, Elder of the Algonquin Territory, and VIA Rail President and Chief Executive Officer Yves Desjardins-Siciliano.
Before the ceremony, the ICC and VIA Rail hosted discussions during which the new Canadians and their guests were invited to share their journeys to citizenship and reflect on what being Canadian means to them. The roundtables were conducted by 15 VIA Rail employees as part of the organization’s 40th anniversary and 40 Sustainable Actions initiative. Close to 150 people attended the celebration at the station.
VIA Rail operates intercity, regional and transcontinental trains linking over 400 communities across Canada, and safely transports nearly four million passengers annually.
