Celebrating Canada Day as a new citizen

Posted on July 6, 2023 by admin

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
Southern Alberta Newspapers

This year’s Canada Day will be the first time celebrating the holiday as a Canadian Citizen for a Lethbridge resident who took the citizenship oath earlier this spring.

This year has been one of many accomplishments for Lethbridge resident, Mila Wagner who moved to Alberta two years after Russia invaded Crimea in 2014. She arrived in Canada in 2016 from Ukraine with her then three-year-old son and this year they will be celebrating Canada Day as Canadian Citizens.

April was a busy month for Wagner as not only she became a Canadian Citizen, she also had a major professional accomplishment. Wagner is a Civil Engineering Technologist in training and works at a local engineering firm.

In April the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta (ASET) presented her with their inaugural CEO Award, which is bestowed upon an ASET member at the sole discretion of the CEO.

“I was proud to receive the ASET CEO award, and it feels great when a highly prestigious organization like ASET recognizes your hard work and prove your value to the world,” said Wagner.

  She said her award recognized her efforts to help create awareness about two ASET initiatives that are designed to support newcomers with engineering technology backgrounds.

When it comes to celebrating Canada Day, Wagner said she is excited to celebrate with her husband and son, as well as her best friend and her 17-year-old son, who arrived from Ukraine in March.

“I’m so excited to celebrate the first Canada Day as a Canadian citizen, and I am going to go to Banff with my family and my best friend and we are going to have the celebration out there in a beautiful place,” said Wagner.