Winnipeg gets 15 Syrian refugees, none part of Trudeau promise of 25K
All had resettlement processes that spanned more than 1 year
Fifteen Syrian refugees are in Winnipeg following a resettlement process that spanned more than a year.
For Eyad Alsalah, coming to Canada marked the first time he, his wife and their two children travelled by plane. The family was living in a Jordanian refugee camp for two years before they moved.
"Canada is an old dream for me, now it's achieved," Alsalah told CBC.
"I want to make sure for my son and for my daughter, for them not to live the experience what I live."
Winnipeg's Welcome Place is providing Alsalah's family with temporary accommodations and helping the family settle in the city.
Alsalah, 34, and his wife are pharmacists. The couple is hoping to upgrade their credentials so they can continue their careers in Canada, which he said he is grateful to call home following devastation he experienced in Syria.
"For me it was so difficult to stay because I was afraid of random arrest," he said.
"I lived in a region that was controlled by the regime so they picked up people from the street for nothing."
The group of 15 Syrian refugees who arrived in Winnipeg, including the Alsalah family, is not part of the 25,000 the Trudeau government has promised to settle by the new year.