Citizenship ceremony

Published on 17 April 2018

17 April 2018

A very warm welcome to our latest citizens, who joined Mayor Hamish McDouall and the Council’s Chief Executive Kym Fell at a special ceremony earlier this month.

They are Ms Tipmaryann Mao, Cambodian; Mrs Yvet Mae Segovia Alelis, Filipino; Mr Raymund Serisola Alelis, Filipino; Dr Johanna Cornelia Coetzee, South African; Mr Andre Stefan Momberg Coetzee, South African; Mr Corne Vladimir Coetzee, South African; Mr Ingemar Jan Coetzee, South African; Mr Radu-Dorin Popa, Romanian; Mrs Gabriela-Mihaela Popa, Romanian; Mrs Candice Rosslee, South African; Mr Glenn Rosslee, South African; Mr John Randy Sa, Samoan; Mr Manjot Singh, Indian; Miss Soniya George, Indian; Mr Paul John Jackman, British; Miss Sophie Irene Tang, Chinese.

Mayor McDouall says Whanganui is attracting increasing numbers of new residents from all over New Zealand and the world.

“I appreciate this wonderful diversity every time we gather for one of these regular citizenship ceremonies,” he says. “Our new arrivals enrich our community with new perspectives and culture. People are choosing to migrate to Whanganui and our popularity is reflected in the increasing number of citizenship ceremonies we are hosting.”

The Council is one of nine local councils taking part in a Welcoming Communities pilot programme, which supports local councils and their communities to become even more welcoming to recent migrants, former refugees, international students and New Zealanders coming from elsewhere.

“Whanganui is a welcoming place and we’re pleased to be a participating council in the pilot programme for the new Welcoming Communities programme,” says Mayor McDouall.

Based on its success, the programme may be rolled out to other regions in New Zealand from July 2019.