Rewards of a new life in Canada
Having left warshattered Syria behind, Rawad al-awad is ready to take the oath of citizenship
Rawad al-awad is an optimistic man.
e immigrant from Syria has good reason to be; come spring, in Halifax, he will raise his right hand and swear an oath to become a Canadian citizen.
“I’m so excited and happy and appreciative for Canada,” said al-awar. “Canada is my future, they’ve given me a chance. Everywhere you go, you have a chance, a new thing to do. You never stop.”
Indeed, al- Awar has never stopped since he rst arrived in Truro on May 21, 2016. He now has steady employment as a cook at Revana Pizza in Bible Hill and managed to sponsor his wife Hala Baraka so she could join him last summer.
Al-awar was previously enrolled at the Nova Scotia Community College in Truro, but left so he could work and save up enough money to obtain his wife’s immigration visa.
She then flew over from Lebanon to join al-awar, marriage certificate in hand, landing in Nova Scotia on Canada Day. They held a proper wedding ceremony in their new home.
“I will never forget that for the rest of my life – because it was Canada Day and my wife’s day,” said al-awar.
Also with him in Truro is his father Khalid, mother Maha and sister Mawar. He has another brother who lives with his wife and children in the United Arab Emirates.
“We are the first Syrian family in Truro,” said al-awar. “We have Canadian friends here, they come to our home always. That makes me feel good and helps me to make connections with Canadians.”
Unlike the other Syrians in Colchester County, however, al-awar did not arrive in Canada as a refugee.
His family first applied for Canadian permanent residency about eight years ago, just as the Syrian civil war started in March 2011.
Back then, they lived in a town called Hader in southern Syria, just east of the Israeli border.
As the war escalated, fighting broke out between rebel forces and the army of Syrian dictator Bashar al-assad, forcing many local people to flee, mostly to Lebanon or Jordan.
“When I left, it was so bad,” recalled al-awar. “You know what’s going on in Syria – bombs everywhere, men in black hoods, ISIS.”
It was in Lebanon that the family finally completed their Canadian residency applications, undergoing interviews at the Canadian embassy in Beirut, as well as medical tests.
Those Syrians arriving in Canada under refugee status, by contrast, are nominated via the United Nations.
Either way, al-awar is looking toward the future. He plans on eventually starting his own restaurant business and buying a house with his wife.
“That’s the dream,” he said.