Members of the local Syrian community continue to hold out hope for their loved ones as worldwide outrage over the plight of refugees increases.
“Everybody is trying, but we need big help here,” explains Rana Haddad, the owner of Salon on Seventeenth.
Haddad says the recently surfaced photo of a dead three-year-old boy on a beach in Turkey only begins to scratch the surface of the atrocities her friends and family members have witnessed within Syria’s borders and during their attempts to escape the war ravaged country.
Her brother continues to live in the relative safety of the city of Damascus but uncertainty in the country has left the realtor without property to sell. He is surviving on money transfers from family but relatives are encouraging him to leave Syria.
“We’re still waiting. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The salon owner has been encouraged with Canada’s approach to the Syrian people.
“We can’t take everybody in my opinion and they're doing a good job, the government is doing a really good job.”
Migration expert Julie Drolet says Canada is capable of accepting more Syrian refugees, but not at the expense of refugees from other parts of the world.
“In the past, Canada has reacted quickly and decisively to other refugee crises,” said Drolet. “What we need to see is that same level of commitment today.”
Haddad is among the Canadians assisting Syrians in their attempt to escape dangerous living conditions. She is sponsoring, through her church, a Syrian refugee family she has never met.
“Everybody in my country has lost somebody and it’s not fair.”
With files from CTV's Scott McLean
