Newcomers get Canadian welcome at Saskatoon Blades hockey game

A group of new Canadians will get a warm welcome on ice when the Saskatoon Blades host a citizenship ceremony on Jan. 22.

Twenty people will take their citizenship oaths at the game, where hundreds of newcomers will also have a chance to learn about hockey and try skating for the first time.

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Blades president Steve Hogle said it was the first ceremony of its kind in western provinces, and possibly the first in Canadian history.

Fostering inclusion, belonging

"We're absolutely thrilled to be able to use our sport and our brand to help make these people more at home," he said.

The game is a partnership between the WHL's Blades, the Saskatoon Open Door Society and cleaning product manufacturer Ecologik.

The company's founder, Bob Behari, was a newcomer himself when he moved to Canada from India in 1977.

Saskatoon Open Door Society executive director Ali Abukar said participation and involvement in recreational and elite sports was important to the non-profit group's clients.

"It fosters in newcomers to Saskatoon a sense of inclusion and belonging in their new community and facilitates integration, which is at the core of our mandate," said Abukar.

The society, which works to assist refugees and immigrants new to the city,said many newcomers to Saskatoon had never skated, been to an ice rink or seen a hockey game.