Ann Justin became a Canadian citizen on November 24, 2022, fifty years after moving to Canada from Scotland (in 1972). She jokes about how long it took her, but the delay wasn’t, in fact, her fault. Before becoming a Canadian citizen, Ann was conferred Indian Status by marriage in Kyuquot in 1981 to a First Nations man, and this is why the road to her Citizenship became unclear and unpaved.
” A department of the government, immediately upon marriage, made me a full-status Indian, without consultation. However, I was apparently still NOT a Canadian citizen, as I discovered in various situations that arose in the ensuing years,” Ann says. This impeded some potential activities.
During the years following her marriage, Ann often thought of clarifying her status, and she discovered that to become a Canadian citizen, she first needed to become a Permanent Resident. But how would she do that? As a status Indian, she could not apply for permanent residence!
In 2017, Ann decided to reach out to the Immigrant Welcome Centre to sort things out. “[They] were very interested in my rather complicated case, and looked into it carefully for me. They did assist me through the procedures, however. That was a relief!” Ann says.
After obtaining her Permanent Resident card, it took Ann about five years before finalizing her Citizenship application. “Now I am a three-times citizen! Primarily of the UK, secondly of the Ka:’yu:’k’t’h’/Che:k’tles7et’h’ First Nations, and now of Canada, under the rule of His Majesty King Charles the Third, King of both the UK and Canada, who replaced Queen Elizabeth the Second upon her recent death,” continues Ann.
She is a living testimony of being open to new cultures and acting as a bridge. As an inter-racial family, Ann, her husband, and their kids were unfortunately sometimes exposed to prejudices and racism from various sources, but that didn’t stop them from service in many ways: Ann worked as a teacher, as a missionary with NAIM ministries, a pastor, and as a council member in the community of Kyuquot.
When asked what advice she would give to newcomers, she says: “Be open to learning about new cultures and be prepared to adapt accordingly. To Canadian-born people, I’d like to remind them of the struggles that immigrants go through during their journey, such as integrating into a new culture and learning a new language. I’m a native English speaker, and it took me years to get used to the different words Canadians use!” Ann says with a smile.
You can read more about Ann’s life on her blog: https://annofgg.com/
