{"id":872544,"date":"2026-08-26T21:10:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T21:10:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/872544\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T21:10:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T21:10:44","slug":"harmony-between-people-is-stronger-than-any-tariffs-new-canadian-citizens-take-oath-at-cne-amid-trade-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/872544\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Harmony between people is stronger than any tariffs’: New Canadian citizens take oath at CNE amid trade war"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s tense tariff battle with the U.S. was on the minds of new Canadians in Toronto Tuesday, as 465 people took their oath of citizenship at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).<\/p>\n

The CNE has hosted a citizenship ceremony annually for 26 years, but this year\u2019s celebration, which welcomed new Canadians from 57 different countries, marked the Exhibition\u2019s biggest since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CNE CEO Mark Holland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a super emotional day to welcome these folks and to see all of their excitement to join the Canadian family,\u201d Holland told CBC News. \u201cIt\u2019s a stressful time to be a Canadian, so we got to have each other\u2019s backs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just a day before the ceremony, Ontario Premier Doug Ford exchanged heated words<\/a> with U.S. President Donald Trump amid the recent fallout of trade talks<\/a> between the two countries.<\/p>\n

In response to new U.S. tariffs, Ford repeatedly said the president could \u201ckiss my ass,\u201d while Trump took to Truth Social<\/a> to call the premier \u201cFlunky Ford\u201d and threaten to rename Lake Ontario \u201cLake America.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. had implemented 50 per cent U.S. tariffs on about $28 billion worth of Canadian goods Saturday. Prime Minister Mark Carney later said retaliatory, dollar-for-dollar tariffs on the U.S. will come into effect Sept. 8. <\/p>\n

Canada’s counter against the U.S. tariffs served as a point of pride for new Canadian Karimat Okunlole. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of the way Canada stood up against our bullying neighbours,\u201d said Okunlole, who moved to Canada 13 years ago, graduated from the University of British Columbia and worked as a structural designer for five years before obtaining citizenship Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough we\u2019re smaller than them, it\u2019s about being able to stand for your people and represent what we hold as most important,” he said. \u201cTogether as Canadians, we all share the pride and identity of being Canadian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Antonio Elias, a phone technician who has lived in Canada for almost four years after coming from Syria as a refugee, agreed now is the best time for Canadians to stand strong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AAs Canada and the U.S. exchange heated threats over tariffs, Syria-born Canadian Antonio Elias says the ‘harmony between the people is stronger than any tariffs.’ (Pelin Sidiki\/CBC News)<\/p>\n

\u201cSince all these tariffs show up, the Canadians become more Canadian,\u201d Elias told CBC News at Tuesday’s ceremony. \u201cThe harmony between the people is stronger than any tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter where we came from. We\u2019re all human and have the same essence inside us.”<\/p>\n

Over 356,000 people on average became Canadian citizens annually<\/a> through 2022-25, according to the federal government. Next year marks the 80th anniversary of the Canadian Citizenship Act, which established the current criteria for qualifying as a citizen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,3302],"class_list":["post-872544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}