Windsor mom 'overwhelmed with joy' after reuniting with kids abducted by their father in 2019
CBC
A Windsor, Ont., woman has been reunited with two of her children, two years after they were abducted by their father and taken to Lebanon.
Khawla Khalifa said Dina, 7, and Fawzi, 10, arrived at Toronto's Pearson Airport Sunday night.
"It's indescribable. It's something I've been dreaming about, you know, for the past two and a half years and I can't even explain with words," Khalifa said.
"I'm overwhelmed with joy, I'm so happy that they're home, they're home with us."
In 2019 Achraf Zeidan took his two children to Lebanon, despite the fact he was not to leave Essex County with them. A court had granted custody to his ex-wife Khawla Khalifa.
Earlier this year Khalifa sued Zeidan, members of his family and Egyptair for $10 million for their alleged roles in the abduction of two of her children in 2019.
On Monday she said the children were returned to her under an agreement reached with the parties.
"We were able to come to an agreement with the parities and the outcome of that was the kids coming home just last night," she said.
Khalifa said Global Affairs Canada was instrumental in arranging travel documents and making travel arrangements for the return of the kids, who she said will need time to adjust.
"They're happy to be home. They're going to need some time to adjust and we're going to need some time to adjust as well but, you know, I don't doubt their resilience at all," she said.
"They've been through something that I don't think anybody could understand. We'll get through this together. We are going to take it day by day. I told my son today, 'We have the rest of our lives to work through this.' The only way now is forward so we're going to work on that and we'll take it day by day," Khalifa added.
Former Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Paul Hodgson has a couple of reasons to celebrate Family Day — and Black History Month, for that matter.
A year ago, then Gatineau mayor France Bélisle abruptly resigned, citing a hostile political climate. This week she has spoken out, offering more details of her complaints about municipal politics in Quebec.
One man is dead and three others are in police custody after a deadly assault on a Manitoba First Nation.
When Piper sends her son to school every morning, she calls out a similar refrain: "I love you, try your best, I'll be here to pick you up when school is done," hoping he will be safe and supported.
A downtown Edmonton business advocacy group is worried about how a series of planned bridge closures due to construction could impact the city.
Vancouver resident Tara Garofano says she made a dinner reservation on Valentine's Day — not for romance, but to take advantage of the final hours of the federal government's temporary Goods and Services Tax (GST) holiday.
Students at McMaster University in Hamilton are questioning the institution's commitment to the prevention of sexual violence after staffing changes at the office responsible for that work on campus.
Windsor-Essex could see its biggest snowfalls of the year in what Canada's weather agency is calling a "highly impactful" storm.
Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services (FWES) is looking into reports of two young cougars that were spotted alone near Canmore this week.
All crew members of the MSC Baltic III have been rescued after their vessel ran aground close to the Lark Harbour shoreline off Newfoundland and Labrador's west coast.
Here's a look at some of the closures, and special events, happening in Thunder Bay on the Family Day weekend:
If you live in or around Toronto, you may want to keep that shovel nearby.
As the Ontario provincial election campaign heats up, voters in Waterloo region and surrounding areas are making their priorities clear.