Good morning from Canada
Monday morning, I crossed the International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie for the first time as a Found Canadian. I just wanted to share a few anecdotes with everyone from the two days I've spent here before I head back to Michigan this afternoon.
I came over with my best friend, and we're here to explore some of the areas where my ancestors lived. I used a maternal great great grandfather on my application, and he lived on St. Joseph Island along with my American-born great grandfather. That was the initial focus of my trip.
On Monday, our first stop was the tourism information centre near the International Bridge. It was fun to browse some souvenirs and chat with the staff. I got some recommendations for next week's return trip for Canada Day, which was very helpful. My status as a dual citizen came up in conversation, and I was congratulated and welcomed. That felt nice. It was certainly warmer than the usual reception at CBSA.
The next stop was the Service Canada office. I had an appointment to drop off the paperwork for my Canadian passport. That was my first introduction to the mundane side of Canadian life, the government bureaucracy in action. Given all of the recent news, I was suddenly nervous about this appointment, one that would have been a mere formality before. When I checked in, I was asked if I needed to get a SIN processed in addition to my passport, which was a nice efficient touch. I declined because I had already done that online. After I was called up to a desk for the appointment, the clerk scanned the various documents into the computer, scanned the barcodes from my IDs and citizenship certificate, and everything validated. She processed my payment and then told me that my passport should be issued in 10 business days and shipped to my home. She asked at the very end if I had Canadian parents and was just now getting around to getting citizenship and a passport. When I answered that my claim came from a few more generations back, she was intrigued and warmly congratulated me.
The rest of these couple of days have been a mix of playing tourist and just soaking in some everyday things. We saw boats lock through the canal on the Canadian side and hiked the island a bit there. We visited St. Joseph Island where my ancestors lived and found the graves of the one set buried there. We were in Bath & Body Works in the mall here because my friend wanted to things while he was close enough to one of their stores. When he tried to pay and use the barcode for their rewards program, the cashier called him out as an American. I almost said, "well, he is" with a friendly smile to distance myself slightly. Harvey's website wouldn't accept a ZIP code for my debit card, so I couldn't order ahead online.
All in all, I've felt perfectly at home here in a way that I can't say I have in past trips. It was a trip here back in February for a hockey game where the topic of dual citizenship came up. Something felt different that evening signing "O Canada" on Canadian soil, and now I can put a finger on that feeling. It's pride. I'm proud of my heritage and very happy that Canada was willing to claim me back.