When requested about her life in Syria a decade in the past, Amani Shamseddin struggles to search out the phrases.
Sitting on the sofa in her Edmonton house as her kids clamour for her consideration, she pauses to assume.
“It wasn’t protected, we had so many incidents,” the 33-year-old says after a second. “I don’t wish to deliver it again.”
Within the fall of 2015, the newly elected Liberal federal authorities launched into its pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrians fleeing the nation’s brutal civil warfare in simply 100 days.
Since then, Canada has welcomed greater than 100,000 Syrian refugees.
Amongst them have been Shamseddin, her husband Mahmoud and their kids Ahmad and Ghena, who have been eight and 4 when the household fled Damascus in April 2016. The household briefly stayed in Lebanon earlier than securing asylum in Canada.
In keeping with International Affairs Canada, greater than 250,000 folks have died within the Syrian battle that started in 2011, and there are greater than seven million internally displaced Syrians and 6 million Syrian refugees all over the world.
After nearly a decade in Canada, Shamseddin says she by no means might’ve imagined her household’s escape and the group they’ve now present in Edmonton. Whereas settling in a brand new nation has had its challenges, their journey to security is one thing she doesn’t take without any consideration.
“We had so many hopes,” she says, smiling.
Each day in Damascus was full of worry, Shamseddin explains. Airstrikes rattled their house, and numerous neighbours died as they fled for his or her lives. Shamseddin says she was scared to ship Ahmad to highschool or have Ghena begin kindergarten as bombs detonated within the metropolis.
Get each day Nationwide information
Get the day’s high information, political, financial, and present affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox as soon as a day.
Her household didn’t assume a lot concerning the future, she says, as a result of they have been solely making an attempt to outlive every day.
“I by no means considered my life in a while, as a result of I didn’t know what may change,” she says. “We expect daily.”
It was late 2015 once they realized that Canada might supply them a future. They already had some family members in Alberta, who inspired them to assert asylum. For Shamseddin, the selection was clear.
“We thought it could be alternative for us and the children for a greater future,” she says.
“We had hopes, however you by no means know if it’s going to occur.”
A mosque and a church in Toronto teamed as much as sponsor the household, and by the next April, they have been on a airplane.
Shamseddin, who was simply 25 on the time, says she had by no means travelled farther than Lebanon. She remembers the second the airplane touched down on the Pearson Worldwide Airport in Toronto.
“I (was) overwhelmed by every part. I used to be simply imagining it was going to be like paradise,” she says. “We have been crying, in tears.”
Initially, the household struggled to settle in Toronto, she says. They have been crammed in a tiny two-bedroom condominium and struggled with the town’s affordability disaster.
Shamseddin says in addition they missed having an Islamic group close by. A special tradition, language and climate have been all a part of the problem, too.
From left, Selena Moushli, 6, Mila Moushli, 2, Mahmoud Moushli, Ghena Moushli, 14, and Amani Shamseddin, pictured at their house in Edmonton, on Wednesday January 1, 2025.
Jason Franson/ The Canadian Press
Three years in the past, they moved to Edmonton to be nearer to family members. The aid of being close to household was solely made extra highly effective once they formally acquired Canadian citizenships.
“We felt that at any time when we get our citizenship, we are able to go wherever we wish … like our dream is coming true,” she says.
The sensation of security is one thing she needs for her relations nonetheless in Syria. Final month, the nation’s president, Bashar Assad, fled the nation after opposition forces seized Damascus. It marked a dramatic finish to the Assad household’s 50-year management of the nation and his personal 24 years of rule outlined by the civil warfare.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller has mentioned Canada will proceed to guage the asylum claims of people that have left Syria, whilst some European nations are pausing these claims after the autumn of the Assad regime.
Canada has roughly 1,600 pending refugee claims from Syria as of Sept. 30.
For Shamseddin, life since coming to Canada hasn’t been straightforward. The household remains to be making an attempt to maintain up with the price of residing and now with 4 youngsters, she says she and her husband are all the time pressed for time.
However their challenges haven’t stopped them from transferring ahead, she says.
Whereas seven months pregnant along with her youngest youngster, Shamseddin started finding out to change into a instructor’s assistant, which she describes as “so onerous.” She went on to earn her diploma and now works at a neighborhood faculty, whereas her husband works in upkeep.
Her eldest son Ahmad, now 17 and in his closing 12 months of highschool, plans to change into a health care provider. Ghena, now in Grade 9, hopes to change into a nurse. The couple’s two youngest kids, Selena and Mila, have been each born in Canada and are actually aged six and two.
When reflecting on their years in Canada and the warfare they escaped, Shamseddin says she encourages her kids to study from their journey, and to all the time keep resilient.
“Be the perfect instance of a Syrian, a Muslim, a human being,” she tells them. “It doesn’t matter what problem you face.”
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Source link