FAMILY ORDEAL FINALLY OVER
Mohamad Alhomsi is overcome with emotion as he embraces his son Yaseen, 25, who arrived with brother Majd at Vancouver International Airport from Syria on Thursday. Alhomsi has been fighting for five years to get the young men, whom he had not seen since
The last time Mohamad Alhomsi saw his two eldest sons, he was being hauled off to prison by Syrian government security forces. That was nine years ago.
Thursday afternoon, he paced the floor of the domestic arrivals area at the Vancouver airport, wiping sweat from his brow, his eyes bright as he waited for their flight to land from Toronto. His two youngest children, eightyear-old Moustafa and fouryear-old Maram, played on the floor, each wearing a sign to welcome their stepbrothers, whom they had never met, to Canada.
When 25-year-old Yaseen caught the first glimpse of his father, he dropped his bags on the floor and ran into his embrace. He was joined seconds later by his brother Majd, 22. Alhomsi’s shoulders shook as he held them. Alhomsi has not spent any meaningful time with his two oldest sons for 15 years because he was imprisoned by the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, he explained through a translator. Nine years ago, he was allowed to see his children for a few hours and then led back to prison.
“When I left them, they were children as young as these kids,” he said, gesturing at his two younger children, “and now they’re young men,”
When Alhomsi came out of prison, seven countries offered him asylum, he said, but he chose Canada because of its family reunification policy.
Canadian consular officials told him he would be able to sponsor his older sons in about six months, he said, but the process took five years.
“It’s really hard to be here and have some family members back there,” he said, adding that Canada should make family reunification for refugee families a priority. “I am very happy for my children, but a bit sad ... for all the rest of the Syrian people who have to deal with the conflict and are ... trapped overseas.”
Yaseen was also imprisoned by the Syrian regime for eight months, but then released as a result of international pressure.
His first words to those gathered to witness the reunion were to thank the Canadian government and the Canadian people for giving his family a chance to be together.
Asked how it felt to see his father again, Yaseen said: “I don’t have any words. I can’t express this feeling.”
He was in elementary school when he last saw his father and now he’s a university graduate with a business administration degree, he explained.
He would like to continue his studies and get a master’s degree.
“Maybe my father doesn’t know me very well.”
They will start their new life in Burnaby, where Alhomsi has been living for the last five years.