Syrian refugee family reflects on nearly a decade in Canada: ‘A better future’

After almost a decade in Canada and finding a new, supportive community in Edmonton, Amani Shamseddin says their journey to safety is something she doesn’t take for granted.

When asked about her life in Syria a decade ago, Amani Shamseddin struggles to find the words.

Sitting on the couch in her Edmonton home as her children clamour for her attention, she pauses to think.

“It wasn’t safe, we had so many incidents,” the 33-year-old says after a moment. “I don’t want to bring it back.”

In the fall of 2015, the newly elected Liberal federal government embarked on its pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrians fleeing the country’s brutal civil war in just 100 days.

Since then, Canada has welcomed more than 100,000 Syrian refugees.

Among them were Shamseddin, her husband Mahmoud and their children Ahmad and Ghena, who were eight and four when the family fled Damascus in April 2016. The family briefly stayed in Lebanon before securing asylum in Canada.

According to Global Affairs Canada, more than 250,000 people have died in the Syrian conflict that began in 2011, and there are more than seven million internally displaced Syrians and six million Syrian refugees around the world.

After almost a decade in Canada, Shamseddin says she never could’ve imagined her family’s escape and the community they’ve now found in Edmonton. While settling in a new country has had its challenges, their journey to safety is something she doesn’t take for granted.