Citizenship ceremonies were held across Canada last month to welcome people from different backgrounds into their new lives as Canadian citizens.

Ninety people from 23 countries have become citizens in Canada in recent weeks and have been captured in this eye-opening photo collection.

The newest faces of Canada came to the North American country for a variety of reasons.

They may have come for a better life, to escape from fear, or to be with the ones they love.

Rainer Manzel from Stuttgart, Germany, said: ‘My aunt told me to come. To find out what it’s like here but she never told me about the cold winter.’ (Picture: Reuters)

While immigration has become an issue strained under heated debate across the globe, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has launched a number of initiatives to welcome migrants to his country.

In June the country launched a fast-track visa for highly skilled workers, seeking to take advantage of Donald Trump’s tougher US immigration policies.

These images of the newest Canadians were taken just after they were granted their citizenship and the chance to begin a new life.

Nasira Ahmad from Lahore, Pakistan, said: ‘It’s a very, very peaceful country. We have our freedom, especially religious freedom. Back home we don’t have it, so we are happy here. We are safe. We are peaceful. We have rights.’ (Picture: Reuters)
Damian Daley from Kingston, Jamaica, said: ‘We came to Canada to start a new chapter in our lives and considered this chapter the adventure of a lifetime!’ (Picture: Reuters)
Chhe Hyolmo from Sermathang, Nepal, said: ‘I came to Canada to have a better future. The best thing about Canada is that it’s a multicultural country.’ (Picture: Reuters)

One of these ceremonies was held in Calgary, Alberta just a few weeks before Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary on July 1.

During the ceremony, citizenship Judge Woodward asked new Canadians to remember their responsibilities to the country and to ‘keep Canada alive’.

‘When you become a part of Canada, Canada becomes a part of you,’ he said.

Each photographed person has their own unique story, with their own dreams and fears.

But all of them are united in their hopes for a better and brighter future.

Yazan Almadani, 7, from Baghdad, Iraq, said: ‘I think Canada is our home. I want to be a football player.’ (Picture: Reuters)
Sajedeh Ghassemi from Mashhad, Iran, said: ‘I want to have a better future because as a Middle Eastern woman in my country, I cannot do a lot of stuff.’ (Picture: Reuters)

Yosra Boudhrious, originally from Tunisia, posed after her ceremony on May 29.

Despite not speaking fluent English after first arriving in 2012, she is now completing a teaching degree.

Speaking about Canada’s immigration system, which offers free language classes, she said: ‘It doesn’t put you down. You’re always up if you have the passion.’

Sajedeh Ghassemi, from Mashhad in Iran, spoke of coming to Canada for new opportunities which were not available to her before.

Tom Chitty from Richmond, England, said: ‘I didn’t really have a choice because I fell in love with a Canadian so I moved here to get married to her eventually.’ (Picture: Reuters)
Flor Mejid from El Salvador said: ‘There’s lots of multiculturalism here. My high school that I went to (in Canada) there were students from the Middle East, Asia, Central America, and they all got along really well.’ (Picture: Reuters)
Ligia Diaconeseu from Romania said: ‘I hope to speak English fluently. Now I’m studying at ESL for newcomers. I hope to obtain a Bachelor’s degree at the University of Toronto in Medicine and Law.’ (Picture: Reuters)

She said: ‘I want to have a better future because as a Middle Eastern woman in my country, I cannot do a lot of stuff.’

Grinning three-year-old Svetlana Grace Joseph was granted citizenship at a ceremony in Mississauga, Ontario on May 25.

Coming to Canada with her parents from Mumbai, India, Svetlana said: ‘I want to be a teacher.’

Tom Chitty, a British migrant from Richmond, said after his ceremony: ‘I didn’t really have a choice because I fell in love with a Canadian so I moved here to get married to her eventually. What am I going to do first? Believe it or not we are going to Tim Hortons.’

Laarnice Batal from the island of Negros, Philippines, said: ‘My husband was working here, and I chose Canada for our future, for the future of my kids. This is a good place. It’s good.’ (Picture: Reuters)
Fardin Naibkhil from Kabul, Afghanistan, said: ‘I came to Canada to have a better life because there are lots of opportunities. Canada is a freedom country and it’s a multicultural country.’ (Picture: Reuters)

Newly confirmed Canadian Rainer Manzel from Stuttgart in Germany joked: ‘My aunt told me to come to find out what it’s like here but she never told me about the cold winter.’

Chhe Hyolmo, originally from Sermathang in Nepal, said she would like to study law now she has become a Canadian citizen.

‘I came to Canada to have a better future. The best thing about Canada is that it’s a multicultural country,’ Hyolmo said.

Conservative Canadian politicians have been highly critical of Mr Trudeau’s immigration policy and recently Kellie Leitch shared The Toronto Sun’s column about a Syrian refugee who beat his wife with a hockey stick.

Leitch wrote on Twitter: ‘A battered wife and a bloodied hockey stick. That’s the legacy of Trudeau’s Syrian refugee program.’

People were quick to respond by condemning the tweet, with ex-deputy premier of Alberta Thomas Lukaszuk writing: ‘Your tactics are despicable! Thousands of law abiding refugees arrived & one recently saved a Canadian’s life. No place for hate in politics.’

Farah Morris of Mauritius and Guyana said: ‘My future plans are to attain a successful and fulfilling career in neuroscience and to live everyday with a positive attitude.” (Picture: Reuters)
Grace Sutter Hodgins from Cleveland, Ohio said: ‘We bought property in British Columbia in 2011, raw land, and we’ve been building a house and making a homestead.’ (Picture: Reuters)
Arshad Ahmad from Lahore, Pakistan, said: ‘For thanks I’ll pay some charity. I feel real honour to be a Canadian. Before I was in the middle of nowhere.’ (Picture: Reuters)

A spokesperson for the Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada federal department said in a statement: ‘Canada will welcome a target of 300,000 new permanent residents in 2017.

‘Planned admissions for resettled refugees in 2017 is 25,000. Immigration continues to play a key role in contributing to Canada’s well-being, to our economic prosperity.’

Immigration continues to dominate the headlines and the global political conversation, but occasionally loses sight of the individual stories which bring people to move from the places they were born.

These images display the personal stories of a small section of migrants, showing that it is impossible to explain their stories into a single simple narrative.

This photograph collection by Mark Blinch and Todd Korol is published on the Reuters website.