{"id":94249,"date":"2025-06-30T15:50:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T19:50:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=94249"},"modified":"2025-06-30T15:50:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T19:50:06","slug":"its-a-privilege-to-live-here-what-this-canada-day-means-for-new-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/30\/its-a-privilege-to-live-here-what-this-canada-day-means-for-new-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;It&#8217;s a privilege to live here&#8217;: What this Canada Day means for new citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Vanessa Tiberio Samantha Sannella shed happy tears as she stood to sing the national anthem at her citizenship ceremony in early June, nearly three decades after she moved to Canada. She had sung &#8220;O Canada&#8221; countless times before, but this was the first time she\u2019d done so as a Canadian. Originally from Houston, Texas, Sannella moved to Toronto 28 years ago for a job. For the longest time, she still considered herself a U.S. citizen, with a part of her thinking she might move back one day. But that changed last fall. \u201cBecause of the political climate down there, I decided finally after the last U.S. election that I was really Canadian in my heart and home is here with my boys,\u201d Sannella said, referring to her Canadian-born children&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F06%2F30%2Fits-a-privilege-to-live-here-what-this-canada-day-means-for-new-citizens%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Vanessa Tiberio Samantha Sannella shed happy tears as she stood to sing the national anthem at her citizenship ceremony in early June, nearly three decades after she moved to Canada. She had sung &#8220;O Canada&#8221; countless times before, but this was the first time she\u2019d done so as a Canadian. Originally from Houston, Texas, Sannella moved to Toronto 28 years ago for a job. For the longest time, she still considered herself a U.S. citizen, with a part of her thinking she might move back one day. But that changed last fall. \u201cBecause of the political climate down there, I decided finally after the last U.S. election that I was really Canadian in my heart and home is here with my boys,\u201d Sannella said, referring to her Canadian-born children... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F06%2F30%2Fits-a-privilege-to-live-here-what-this-canada-day-means-for-new-citizens%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;It&#039;s a privilege to live here&#039;: What this Canada Day means for new citizens - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/30\/its-a-privilege-to-live-here-what-this-canada-day-means-for-new-citizens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;It&#039;s a privilege to live here&#039;: What this Canada Day means for new citizens - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Vanessa Tiberio Samantha Sannella shed happy tears as she stood to sing the national anthem at her citizenship ceremony in early June, nearly three decades after she moved to Canada. 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