I can explain the logic of this amendment.
It's really in the title: “Respecting holidays and days of significance to promote Canada's multicultural identity”. I think we'd all agree that there are very few people who would show up to a citizenship ceremony on Christmas Day or Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day or any other major holiday of the year. There are many people who celebrate holidays that are not recognized right now in statute, that are not either directly referred to...or these holidays are on a different calendar. They may be on a lunar calender. There are the Julian and Gregorian calendars in different Christian denominations, so it does sometimes move around in the year. Just as we shouldn't expect someone to come when it is their New Year's celebration, whether it is Rosh Hashanah or one of the others—Vaisakhi is an excellent one—we shouldn't expect them to come on their New Year's. They're going to be with family and they should spend it with family.
The department should be mindful of it, as should the minister, and therefore they can work around those days. There are 365 days in the year. I don't think it's too much to ask that the department find days that work for new Canadians who are about to take the oath of citizenship and not force them to do so on a date that is of significance to them.
Thank you, Chair.