A citizenship ceremony at a sugar shack: can it get any more Canadian?

Perhaps nothing says Canada more than maple syrup and new citizens were welcomed and sworn-in at a ceremony in the sweetest of places, a sugar shack in the nation's capital.

Twenty people from all parts of the world were sworn in as new Canadian citizens at the Vanier Sugar Shack Tuesday morning.

"I'm so happy," Sandrine Gohore, who moved to Canada from the Ivory Coast tells CTV News.

"It is a good day; it is a memorable day. I'm so blessed with my family."

Leslie Bourguignon moved from France, and was sworn in along with her two children.

"It's a long process, like five years to achieve this goal. It was a dream of our life and we are now Canadian," she says. "Hope for future, and a better life."

It was a special day for many and having it at the sugar shack made it all the sweeter.

"I think it's great. I only went to my first sugar shack two months ago, three months ago, so I'm pretty happy the citizenship happened at this great location," says Saneel Vasram.

Vasram moved to Canada from Australia for love. His wife is from Kingston.

"I feel great! It's been a long time coming. It's a great country. I'm privileged to be a citizen of two great countries, Australia and Canada, and so I really couldn't be happier."

He says since landing in 2016, getting to this day has been a long and at times frustrating process, when it came to the administrative side.

"I do hope that there is an improvement in the processes, not for me, because obviously I have a level of privilege that is outside of what other people might experience, but being able to give a bit more respect and dignity to other potential immigrants to this country would be amazing."

With an economy facing labour shortages, Canada plans to welcome nearly half a million newcomers per year until 2025.

"I think that we need to help our different sectors, our economic region here in Ottawa-Vanier and the national capital region, always looking for those great minds and, therefore this is a great opportunity to focus on that," said Treasury Board president and Ottawa-Vanier MP Mona Fortier.

Each of these new Canadians walked away Tuesday with a world of opportunity ahead of them.

"He might be the next prime minister," said one man as he pointed at a new young Canadian.