Talk about your long-distance relationships.
Saeida Hashemi was living in the country of her birth, Iran, in its capital city, Tehran. She worked as a pharmacy technician, part-time as a teacher. She had attended university, majoring in literature. Her two older sisters were in Â鶹AV, each having met and married one of three brothers from the same family.
Hashemi flew to Canada to attend one of her sister's weddings. Hashemi is the youngest of the three. The youngest of the three brothers is a man named Naim. He, too, was at the wedding.
Well, the youngest, non-married siblings hit it off, fell in love, and with Naim already being in Canada, where he had established a business, he convinced Hashemi to move to a new country.
No problem. Hashemi couldn't get on a plane fast enough.
The pair married in 2016, have had two children, moved to Vernon, and opened a business – Habibi's Donairs – on Anderson Way.
She wanted to begin the process of getting Canadian citizenship, and using Google search, she discovered the Vernon and District Immigrant and Community Services Society (VDICSS). Hashemi registered and became a Canadian citizen in early 2025.
On Thursday, June 26, Hashemi was one of close to 40 attendees at the VDICSS Last Day of School potluck at Kin Beach, where those who had become Canadian citizens were given certificates, as well as those who completed the Language Introduction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) classes.
"I'm so, so happy to be here in Canada," said Hashemi, 37, whose English is terrific. "When I started the citizenship process, I got a lot of help from the office, especially a woman named Ramandeep. Everyone was a huge help to me."
Hashemi has plans to enter the licensed practical nursing program at Okanagan College in 2027.
'I'm here today to meet the other new Canadians, be part of the community, and make some new friends," she said.
Handing out the certificates to the new Canadians and LINC grads was a fellow immigrant.
Vernon-Lumby MLA Harwinder Sandhu shared her story of how she left India with her first husband and moved to northern B.C. She is in her second term as the local member of the provincial legislature, and Sandhu had sage advice for the guests at the potluck.
"Don't let the common narrative, or rhetoric, or hate hold you down," said Sandhu. "Canadians are the best people in the world."
The potluck, where guests were treated to culinary delights from different countries, was VDICSS' way of ending its immigrant school year for 2025.
"We're celebrating the hard work the students and teachers have done, and here we go for summer," said Wendy Zarr, VDICSS' language services manager. "We generally follow the school year, September to June, but we also have fun classes over the summer.
"This year, we had about 300 students in both of our programs."
For information about learning English or how to become a Canadian citizen, you can visit VDICSS' website, , or through their page.
