Canadian-Armenians Open Their Hearts and Homes to Syrian-Armenians

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomes Syrian-Armenian family.

Canadian Prime Minister Personally Welcomes a Syrian-Armenian Family at Toronto's Pearson Airport

Mostly based in the suburb of Willowdale, Toronto’s Armenian community has filed applications to receive about 2,500 Armenian-Syrians. Over 1,300 have already been approved, with 350 having already arrived, and 1,000 more expected by the end of 2015.

When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took office in October, he began implementing a resettlement program that aims to welcome 25,000 Syrians by the end of February 2016. The violence in Syria has caused the largest refugee crisis since the World War II, and Toronto’s Armenians may be accepting more than any other community across Canada.

Aside from Armenia itself, Canada’s recently eased refugee rules have made it the most sensible choice for many Armenians who fled Syria and have been waiting for years in Lebanon, Jordan or Turkey for sponsorship approval. Having constantly lived as a minority group, it is important for Armenian-Syrians to be able to comfortably integrate into a wider Armenian community. Willowdale’s Armenian Community Centre is providing this opportunity.

Armenians also feel particularly motivated as genocide victims to do all they can to help Syrians arriving in Canada, citing their common experiences of fleeing their homes to create new lives in an unfamiliar country and culture.

Essentially serving as a “de facto resettlement agency,” the Centre faces various challenges. These includes the government failing to provide adequate details about the dates and numbers of arrivals, as well as the complete lack of government funding, which faces them with the possibility of going into debt. These challenges, however, do not deter the community from working day and night to prepare for whoever comes to them, whenever they come.

The community as a whole has been collecting clothing, household supplies, and furniture to distribute to the new immigrants upon arrival. They have been outreaching for job opportunities, and sponsors are opening up their own homes to welcome new families. Willowdale’s Armenian Private ARS Day School is even waiving tuition for the first year of all Syrian-Armenian students -- they expect 100 more children to soon join the 30 that have already arrived.

Apkar Mirakian who is directing the Centre’s resettlement program told CTV Toronto, “We don’t call them refugees. We call them new arrivals.”

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was present at the airport on Thursday night to welcome the new arrivals to their new home. In this Global TV news report, Trudeau hands jackets to an Armenian-Syrian family: