At noon today, crowds of people gathered in front of Collingwood's federal building raised their right hand and swore to be faithful and true to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, and to the laws of the country.
Since the late 1990s, Collingwood's Canada Day celebrations have included a citizenship reaffirmation ceremony, which has been modelled after the official federal ceremony including the oath of citizenship.
Greg Goldsworthy led the ceremony, introducing guest speakers Jillian Morris, a Collingwood resident and Indigenous person; Day Merrill, Collingwood's poet laureate; Mayor Brian Saunderson; Avjin Ibrahim, a 15-year-old Syrian refugee now living in Collingwood with her family; and Ken Templeman, the town crier.
Each speaker shared their own words of encouragement for Canada Day.
Following the ceremony, those gathered in front of the federal building enjoyed a piece of the more than six-foot-long cake adorned in frosting and maple leaves.
Enjoy these photos from the ceremony.
