“Our government views citizenship as a pledge of mutual responsibility and a shared commitment to values rooted in our history,” said Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. “We are proud to have welcomed more than 16,000 new Canadian citizens this past month and we look forward to their full participation in Canada’s economy and Canadian society. We will continue to improve Canada’s citizenship program to ensure deserving applicants can become citizens more quickly.”

This increase in new citizens is due in part to financial commitments laid out in Canada’s Economic Action Plan for 2013. In the plan, additional funding was allocated to process backlogged citizenship applications. Further steps are being taken to reduce backlogs and bring down processing times.

Last month’s new citizens were sworn in at 244 citizenship ceremonies across the country. They hailed from 190 different countries. According to Canadian census data, 86 percent of permanent residents who are eligible for citizenship go on to become citizens.