Godfrey Onyeka’s first Canada day of any description — Aug. 15, 2005 — did not include any fireworks.
There wasn’t any need to look up at the sky. He was already above the clouds.
Now a defensive back with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Onyeka was only 11 when he peered out the window of an aircraft as it approached Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
A sprawling city, part of a vast country, was below him. A new life was ahead for members of the Onyeka family, who were emigrating from Nigeria and preparing for their first steps on Canadian soil.
“Canada has been a place where we’ve all come for a better opportunity in life,” Onyeka, 30, says when asked about the significance of the July 1 national holiday — Canada Day.
“It’s a weird dichotomy, because we are very proud Nigerians. In the area of Nigeria where I’m from, we’re very proud people.
“But I’m also very aware of the fact that I am Canadian. I wasn’t born here, but most of me becoming who I am happened in Canada.”
Onyeka’s parents — Godfrey Sr. and Jane — were born in the Nigerian community of Nnewi.
Godfrey Jr., who was born in Lagos, has a twin sister (Genevieve), a younger brother (Kene, of the Ottawa REDBLACKS) and an older sister (Ifeoma).
In 2005, the Onyekas moved to Toronto, where they resided for a year before settling in Brampton, Ont.
“When I was a kid, my dad was doing very, very well,” Onyeka recalls. “He could have gone anywhere he wanted to.
“He could have gone to the United States. He could have gone to Europe, because we had cousins there, too, but he chose Canada. I can’t see what he saw, because I was a kid, but he knew something I didn’t know.
“When we first got here, my dad was doing his thing in Nigeria. You can’t just uproot your whole life. You still need to make money, so he stayed back and my mom was here with four kids by herself.
“My dad would come here every two or three months, stay for a month, and then go back. Just think of the sacrifices my parents made.
“My mom was 29 — the age I was last year — in a new country with four kids. Sometimes me and my brother talk about it and try to put in perspective what they’ve done for us.
“We weren’t even babies. I was 11. My older sister was 13. My younger brother was nine. My mom was here with kids who have opinions — without her husband.
“Nigeria is a very patriarchal place, so it was like my dad’s rule. Then, when we moved to Canada, it became my mom’s rule. She had to be strong in that way. She was a nurse, so she had to go to school for nursing while having four kids.
“Then there was my dad, having to support four kids and a wife and find time to run his business and then come over here to visit us.
“When I sit down and think about it, I think, ‘There’s two very special people.’ ”
And four very grateful children.
“I’m happy it all worked out like it worked out, because we’re all doing relatively well,” Onyeka says. “We all turned out pretty well. I’ve had cousins who have gone to other countries and it hasn’t always turned out the best.
“I’m pretty grateful for the country, because this is not my country, technically. They let us in and it has worked out incredibly well.”
Especially on the football field.
Godfrey and Kene share CFL connections with three cousins — Kosi, Nakas and Ifenna.
Kosi is a third-year defensive back with the Roughriders.
Nakas, a CFL linebacker from 2017 to 2022, played for the Green and White in 2021.
Ifenna, a defensive lineman out of Carleton University, was selected in the fifth round (45th overall) of the 2024 CFL Draft by the Toronto Argonauts — who are to oppose the Roughriders on Thursday (7 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
“Kosi was born here, so his family picked us up when we arrived in Canada and took us to house,” Onyeka remembers.
“When we got here in August — August 15th — it wasn’t cold, but it was not as warm as Nigeria, obviously.
“And we don’t really have high-rises in Nigeria. We have more duplexes than actual high-rises, so when we were landing at Pearson airport, I’m looking out the window of the plane and thinking, ‘Everything here is a high-rise.’
“The roads were really nice. That is something I remember vividly from when I was a kid. There were no speedbumps everywhere.
“Even as a kid, I remember thinking, ‘This is nothing like Nigeria and this where I’ve got to spend the rest of my life.’ ”
That is a lot for anyone — especially an 11-year-old — to digest. But, very quickly, Onyeka came to love his new environs.
“People don’t leave their country if they don’t think there’s a better life for them somewhere else,” he says. “The fact that all these people are willing to uproot their lives and move here says a lot about the country itself.
“My family does pretty well, so the option to go other places is available, but everyone has stayed here. It’s just a good place to be.”
That said, Godfrey still has a deep affection for Nigeria, as evidenced by the fact that he has routinely visited the land of his birth.
“I love my culture,” he says. “My family still has a compound in the village, where there’s still three houses. Everyone can still fit, because we have enough rooms.
“Every couple of years, we go back. I’m going back this year, because my dad’s going to be 65 in November, but he’s doing his birthday in January so I’m going back for that.
“Next year, everyone is going, because my grandma is going to be 90.”
Kosi and his family have also been frequent visitors to Nigeria.
“I don’t know if there’s that many countries that are more blessed than Nigeria,” Onyeka says. “We have oil. We have great farmland. You can grow almost everything there. It’s just the management of it.
“If you’ve ever been there, you’ll figure out that most people are just genuinely happy with whatever they have. It’s obvious that they want more, or they could do better with more, but they’re happy. If it was terrible, I wouldn’t go back that often.
“Nigeria will always be home for me, but Canada is Canada.”
That is, from Onyeka’s perspective, a high compliment.
“Our neighbour (in Brampton) is a 75-year-old Indian dude,” he says over a post-practice lunch at Mosaic Stadium. “We have nothing in common, but we just sit and talk about his garden — or random things like that.
“Sometimes I’ll leave here and there will be someone outside the stadium, just hanging out. I’ll strike up a conversation. I feel like that’s something that would be harder to do in a place where things aren’t set up like they are here.
“In this society, there’s a bottom-line respect. Everything isn’t combative and everyone isn’t adversarial. You’re more likely to look out for someone else.
“There’s more of an inherent compassion. People care more about other people and they’re easier to talk to. You feel a lot less like someone’s going to pull one over on you all the time.”
That is something to celebrate every Canada Day — this year’s July 1 holiday being 6,895 days removed from Onyeka’s introduction to our home and native land.
“Canada Day is more like a family day for us,” he notes. “I have a bunch of cousins who also live in Canada and, on Canada Day, no one’s working or no one’s at school so everyone comes home.”’
Home has long been the description of a country Onyeka first saw from an altitude of 38,000 feet. Since landing, he and his loved ones have continued to achieve new heights.
“I’m really grateful,” he reflects. “I don’t usually think about how everything connects but, yeah, it’s pretty cool.
“I’m so happy that we chose Canada.”
