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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Karsh & King, first citizenship ceremony    List Lian Goodall Next   Karsh, King and Canada's first citizenship ceremony   By Lian Goodall On July 1, citizenship ceremonies will be taking place all over the province. But did you know our first citizenship ceremony took place in January 1947? This article looks at this historic event and two of its well-known participants: immigrant photographer Yousuf Karsh, and Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.   The First Event It was a cold, snowy evening January 3, 1947, when the dignitaries and other participants arrived at the Supreme Court building in Ottawa. The music and red coats of the RCMP band soon set a cheery mood as the candidates from Romania, Italy, Estonia and others took their seats on the benches at the front of the room of the Great Chamber.   The Immigrant Participants: Yousuf Karsh, Canadian Citizen Number 10 Ten people of various ethnic backgrounds had been invited to participate. One of these was Yousuf Karsh, a British subject of Armenian birth who had been born in 1908 in Turkey. Karsh and his family had survived the genocide of Christian Armenians and immigrated safely to Syria in the 1920s. Karsh had come to Canada as a teenager, later setting up his successful portrait photography studio in the country's capital. With his stunning 'Roaring Lion' photograph of a scowling Winston Churchill in 1941, Karsh of Ottawa became the most famous portraitist in the world.   Karsh and his wife, Solange, were thrilled to attend the January ceremony. Karsh sat with his fellow immigrants, his large brown eyes fixed intently on the speaker, his fingers nervously held together as he listened. In fact, the entire country listened over a nationally broadcast radio program and the movie cameras whirred in the otherwise quiet hall.   Wearing his scarlet robes, Chief Justice Rinfret spoke in English and French about how different groups made Canada strong. Canada had "accepted the gifts" from each "and made them into an enduring heritage." Then, one by one, the candidates promised to serve the King and to "faithfully obey the laws of Canada and fulfill my duties as a Canadian citizen."   Karsh received the 10th Canadian citizenship certificate.   The Political Participants: William Lyon Mackenzie King, Citizen Number One Prime Minister King (b 1874) was committed throughout much of his 20-plus year career in politics to having the people of Canada become officially Canadians. With the Statute of Westminster in 1931, colonialism shifted to a commonwealth of equal nations. World Wars 1 and 2 were events that helped further alter the concept of British nationals domiciled in Canada, to Canadian nationals, to full Canadian citizens. Front and centre behind this change, and rightfully proud of the Canadian Citizenship Act passed in 1946, was William Lyon Mackenzie King.   However, King had some regrets about the ceremony, expressed in his diary on January 3, 1947, that "negroes and Indians (were not) among our citizens. It would have made clear that colour was no ban to citizenship; would have recognized those who are descendants of a slave race." Blacks in Canada had been voting citizens for some time; perhaps King wished that some black immigrants had been granted citizenship. However, the rights of Status Indians and Inuit were less clear, and they did not gain fuller citizenship rights until 1956 and 1960.   Despite these short comings, King found the overall ceremony impressive, and was pleased about the "instantaneous applause" he received when he began his speech with "I speak as a citizen of Canada." The prime minister was, in fact, the first citizen of Canada. Ten politicians received the first 10 certificates, and perhaps unsurprisingly, King was Canadian Citizen 0001.   After the ceremony, King's diary notes that he spoke "with Karsh," whom he had known formally and socially since the prime minister became the photographer's unofficial patron in the early 1940s (Karsh's official patron since 1936 was governor-general, the head of state, not the prime minister, the head of government). King noted that on January 3, Karsh "was evidently deeply moved by the whole citizenship ceremony."   Indeed, Karsh was moved, but he did not lose his sense of humour. His version of speaking to the prime minister about the ceremony is quite witty. The photographer recounted that he told Citizen 0001 that if he, Karsh, put his thumb over the '0' in '10' on his certificate, that he was Number One. But then it was part of Karsh's profession to coax smiles from his clients, especially ones that had such practised official reserve as Prime Minister King.   After the Ceremony: Karsh The bells of the Peace Tower rang out as the guests left the ceremony. Yousuf's uncle, photographer George Nakash, and his wife, Florence, had travelled from Montreal to watch their nephew take part in the historic proceedings. Solange Karsh wrote to friends that they all celebrated into "the wee small hours."   In Syria, Yousuf's parents were extremely proud of their son. For Yousuf, being part of the first citizenship ceremony in Canada was a great honour that he would cherish throughout his life.   After the Ceremony: King King commented in his diary that as he left the Supreme Court Building he was "perfectly enchanted with the view of the square in front and with the quiet of the moon-lit night." He felt he wanted someone to talk to after such a moving event, especially as it related, for him, to his rebel grandfather William Lyon Mackenzie's 1837 "fight for Canadian citizenship." So he dropped in to visit his friends Godfroy and Joan Patteson and partook in some "sherry and biscuits." Then he went home, and before turning out the lights downstairs, he "placed the little certificate in front of my grandfather's portrait."   Its Place In History King wrote a little more in his diary that night. He felt that not all of his colleagues appreciated the significance of the day's events. However, to King it meant something not only for the present generations of Canadians, but also for those who had gone on before:   It gave me a feeling of close fellowship with a number of folk all through the land - the people that one meets on the thoroughfare of life and I had a strong feeling of the presence of others who have participated in our public life being about and rejoicing with me at what the day signified. It will have its place in the history of our country. This senior statesman closed his consideration by remarking: It is interesting, too, that my speech should have related to the place of my birth and to the speech I made on citizenship there over 21 years ago. It is interesting to see these expanding circles and in the story of one's life the circles completing themselves.   Today "The place of my birth" that King referred to, where he had spoken about Canadian citizenship, is today's city of Kitchener. In Kitchener, Woodside National Historic Site of Canada, the Parks Canada administered-site that celebrates King's boyhood, still considers the Canadian citizenship ceremony to be a special occasion. They have been hosting these ceremonies since 1995 and on July 1, the 14th Canadian citizenship ceremony will be held at Woodside and will see another crop of smiling new Canadians proudly holding fresh certificates.   If you want to find out more about visiting, contact Woodside National Historic Site of Canada at 528 Wellington St., north of Kitchener, 519-571-5684 or 1-888-773-888. Electronically, it's on-woodside@pc.gc.ca or visit pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/on/woodside/contact_e.asp/   Photo credit: Arthur L. Joliffe and Yousuf Karsh at the first citizenship ceremony. Chris Lund photo   Lian Goodall is the author of William Lyon Mackenzie King: Dreams and Shadows (XYZ) and Photographing Greatness: the Story of Karsh (Napoleon, ages 10 to 14).   Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2009 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster