After months of hard work, it only seemed appropriate that Smithers would welcome its first handful of Syrian refugees on Family Day.
After spending months in Beirut, the family left for Canada on Friday. With stops in Montreal and Vancouver, the 5 arrived on Monday morning.
Mayor Taylor Bachrach says he had an emotional run in the with family at the airport.
“Just thinking about what it means for them and what they’ve been through and also what they’re coming to in our community. It’s just a pretty amazing thing and it speaks highly of how generous and how welcoming Smithers is,” he says.
The local climate is much different that overseas, but Bachrach thinks they’ll adjust to the cold.
“We have people who moved to Smithers from all over the world and I’ve had a chance to talk to lots of people who have moved recently and I think they all adapt very quickly to the winter weather.”
While the Assafs get settled in, Smithers is gearing up to welcome another Syrian family.
The Ramandans will land shortly. Their original flight, scheduled to land Tuesday night, was cancelled. They will likely land on Wednesday.
The photo was taken from BV Sponsorship Group’s website.