TORONTO—World Refugee Day was celebrated in Toronto on Friday with a swearing in ceremony of new immigrants, some fleeing nightmares in their home countries, others leaving behind family and friends in the hope of a better future in Canada.
Cheers erupted as the ceremony concluded. But some, like Elsa Pacheco, formerly of Mexico, couldn't contain their tears.
"I'm just very excited. I've been waiting for this for a very very long time. I'm the first one from all my family," said Pacheco.
Flying to Toronto from a similar ceremony in Ottawa only a few hours before, Immigration Minister Diane Finley welcomed Canada's newest citizens.
"You're all helping us make the Canadian society better," she said.
Finley told them to be proud of their status as Canadians, the best gift a country could give. She also spoke of the horrible situations many refugees fled in their home country.
"Their plight is real and their story is so very moving."
The crowd stood while people from countries like China, Macedonia, Korea and Mexico recited their oath of citizenship. Finley made one request afterwards: that when they were asked where they were from, they would reply "Canada."
Those in attendance had an array of stories. For Jamina Ersoura, 30, Canada is a land of security where a single mother can live in peace. Ersoura fled Turkey two years ago because it was impossible to leave her abusive husband and remain in that country due to the stigma attached to single mothers.
"There is nowhere to go," she said. "The family will not accept you."
Even landlords refuse to rent to a single mother, leaving some women with no choice but to either flee the country or stay with their abuser, said Ersoura.
"I'm independent now, and here they help single mothers. Canada now is my home."
Claudia Obreque, 38, came to Canada with her family 20 years ago, political refugees fleeing from Augusto Pinochet's tyrannical regime in Chile.
Estimates say Pinochet was responsible for the deaths of approximately 3,000 Chileans and the torture of about 30,000.
Obreque's father was the president of the national health union in Chile, an activist who was targeted by authorities.
"He was threatened quite a few times," she said.
Obreque said she didn't speak of word of English when she arrived in Canada at 18, but eventually took the community worker program at George Brown College.
She is now the transitional housing coordinator at Sojourn House, which offers a two year transition program to refugees who've suffered extreme trauma.
Although her family returned to Chile after Pinochet's rule ended, Obreque remained in Canada.
"For me, it feels like home," she said, adding that the feeling is even stronger for her two young adult children, one a girl who also wants to be a social worker.
"There are a lot of values in Canada that I value," said Obreque. The top two: respect for human rights and being open to people from different countries.
World Refugee Day is a United Nations initiative to bring attention to the plight of the world's 11.4 million refugees. Canada accepts about 10,000 to 12,000 refugees a year, about 10 per cent of the global total.
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