I'm figuring-out what to buy myself as a gift when this is all over...

[ChippyBoy]

As I'm studying/practising for my test, and making travel/work arrangements to get away for it, I'm debating what to buy as a gift for myself after this long, drawn-out, stressful, and agonising process will be over and done with. I'm thinking a nice celebratory pair of Dunlop Puroforts, hehe.

 

[sandyboy388]

How about something Canadian? Roots?

 

[ChippyBoy]

How about something Canadian? Roots?

Ya, I figured that only prairies guys & territories guys would know what I'm talking about, hehe. There ain't nothing nicer than toasty warm feet standing/working outside at minus 40° C.

 

[keesio]

When I became a citizen, my friends threw me a little celebratory dinner with ketchup chips, butter tarts, smoked meat, kraft dinner, and other "Canadian" foods lol.

 

[Ottawan]

Happy for you. Go travel outside Canada where you actually get to use and experience life as a Canadian.
Otherwise you don’t see any change at all.

 

[ChippyBoy]

Happy for you. Go travel outside Canada where you actually get to use and experience life as a Canadian.
Otherwise you don’t see any change at all.

I don't think that I'll notice anything different to my experiences travelling on my U.K. or my Aussie passports. The only bad thing is my slightly effed-up accent now, hehe.

 

[Seym]

According to Passport Index, the only country you no longer need a visa for when you're already Australian and British is Mongolia...
Book a flight there maybe?

 

[sansnom]

Just some brain storming to make the endless waiting less painful.

One way to notice the difference is to drive across border to the US. For Canadian or US citizens, one usually doesn't have to get off from the car; as other passport holders, including Australian and British, one has to get off the car, entering the document control, fill some forms and pay some bucks.

Another way is to go somewhere but transit via US. On the way back, Canadian citizens can use the lanes for US citizens which is way shorter than lanes for foreigners.

Of course, if you are already a NEXUS holder, you will see no difference in either of above.

 

[vasvas]

Use the Cultural Access Pass and get on a cross country train ride for half price. It's valid for only a year and there aren't many opportunities to get a $3000 discount while enjoying the beauty of this wonderful country.

 

[LoganWick]

Use the Cultural Access Pass and get on a cross country train ride for half price. It's valid for only a year and there aren't many opportunities to get a $3000 discount while enjoying the beauty of this wonderful country.

Did anyone actually used CAP for travelling to east Canada using Via Rail???

 

[vanheartyvr]

When I sent my application I celebrated with BC wine and NS Lobster. When I became Canadian my extended family and friends threw a Canadian party to me and my partner gifted me with a very Canadian experience: a bear watching trip on Vancouver Island. And on the way to my oath ceremony we were listening to The Tragically Hip in the car. Celebrate it the way you see fit and congratulations!

 

[ChippyBoy]

When I sent my application I celebrated with BC wine and NS Lobster. When I became Canadian my extended family and friends threw a Canadian party to me and my partner gifted me with a very Canadian experience: a bear watching trip on Vancouver Island. And on the way to my oath ceremony we were listening to The Tragically Hip in the car. Celebrate it the way you see fit and congratulations!

That sounds lovely. The bears that you saw, were they grizzlies or black bears or some other kind? I'm celebrating with a glass of red wine this evening, after working a half-shift at my survival job here. It's truly amazing how much more 'at home' and safer I feel now that I'm a full citizen, and I feel that I belong here fully for the first time. Up until yesterday, I'd felt in some ways still largely uncertain for the future, vulnerable, and still somehow temporary, but now I feel settled and sure. God bless this magnificent country and her people! I got through the Oath yesterday, but I choked up when we were singing O Canada. I was just filled with thanks that my journey towards full citizenship was finally and at very long last culminating successfully.

 

[James_NZ1]

When I arrived as a PR my partner took me to get Poutine.
People always ask what's in like living in Canada and how are you treated?

The best way I put it is that "I'm not Canadian, but treated like one"

 

[vanheartyvr]

That sounds lovely. The bears that you saw, were they grizzlies or black bears or some other kind? I'm celebrating with a glass of red wine this evening, after working a half-shift at my survival job here. It's truly amazing how much more 'at home' and safer I feel now that I'm a full citizen, and I feel that I belong here fully for the first time. Up until yesterday, I'd felt in some ways still largely uncertain for the future, vulnerable, and still somehow temporary, but now I feel settled and sure. God bless this magnificent country and her people! I got through the Oath yesterday, but I choked up when we were singing O Canada. I was just filled with thanks that my journey towards full citizenship was finally and at very long last culminating successfully.

We saw mostly Grizzlies as we took a boat towards an inlet on the mainland. Amazing creatures! If I could afford, I would go to Manitoba to see Polar Bears. Maybe one day that will happen! Either lottery winning or lots of savings And what an amazing feeling, isn’t it? I totally get what you mean. I guess many of us on this same journey do! Welcome home!

 

[ChippyBoy]

We saw mostly Grizzlies as we took a boat towards an inlet on the mainland. Amazing creatures! If I could afford, I would go to Manitoba to see Polar Bears. Maybe one day that will happen! Either lottery winning or lots of savings And what an amazing feeling, isn’t it? I totally get what you mean. I guess many of us on this same journey do! Welcome home!

I went up to Churchill, MB, as a poor backpacker by VIA Rail from Winnipeg at Xmas in 2001. I stayed in a nice little basic hotel, and got to meet Brian Ladoon, who's an artist & entrepreneurial kind of guy who raises Canadian Eskimo Dogs there, and who also looks after polar bears who are hanging around waiting for Hudson's Bay to freeze over in the fall/winter, which is when they're hungrily scrounging around in the town's trash dump, both unfortunately and dangerously. Anyhow, Brian was an intriguing guy to meet. He took me out with some of his Blackfoot (Blackfeet?) First Nations guys to go check on his dogs out on the ice, and to feed them whole frozen chickens which we chopped in halves with axes and applied whatever medications a particular dog might need before throwing the chicken halves to them, which they devoured (and guarded!) voraciously. I loved watching the Northern Lights every night in the deep cold calmness and clear skies up there. It's a very different and beautiful world up there, but it wasn't prohibitively expensive for me as a backpacker, although grocery prices were much higher.