A young boy boards a bus that took him and other Syrian refugees to the Armenian Community Center of Toronto (Photo: The Globe and Mail)
BY RUPEN JANBAZIAN
From The Armenian Weekly
It has been difficult to ignore the overwhelming international coverage of Canada’s acceptance of Syrian refugees over the past couple of weeks. From local and national news outlets in Canada, to New York Times editorials and coverage from around the world, Canada has been receiving praise and admiration for its commitment to provide a safe haven for refugees escaping their war-torn homes.
Although many Syrians have been steadily coming into the country since the beginning of the civil war, the first group of refugees on a Canadian government-sponsored military plane left Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport for Toronto on Thurs., Dec. 10. They were greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynn with warm embraces and promises of a better, safer life.
Shortly after Trudeau took office in early November, he delivered on his election promise of implementing a systematic resettlement program—one that now aims to welcome 25,000 Syrian refugees by February.
More than half of the Syrians that arrived that day were Syrian-Armenians—a result of a massive undertaking by the Armenian community of Toronto to secure private sponsorships among the community. So far, more than 1,300 Syrian refugees have been approved through the program, which does not require that either the sponsor or refugee have an Armenian background; more than 350 have already arrived, and close to 1,000 are expected to arrive in Toronto by the end of February.
Maria Karageozian is reunited with her father Hagop, a Syrian refugee, at the Armenian Community Center of Toronto (Photo: Mark Blinch/Reuters)
That day, the newly arrived Syrian Armenians were also met with hundreds of Canadian Armenians at the Armenian Community Center of Toronto, where much of their paperwork was processed and filed, and where they would be able to continue the community life they left behind in Syria.
Canada’s recent, warm welcoming of Syrian refugees has been regarded as a moral example for the rest of the world. What many have failed to realize, though, is that the roots of the country’s international humanitarian tradition were formed during the Armenian Genocide.
Between 1923-32, 109 boys (known as the Georgetown Boys) and 40 girls—all orphans of the Armenian Genocide—were brought to Canada in what became known as “Canada’s Noble Experiment,â€
