Syrians in Ottawa seek sponsors to reunite families

The Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization says it has received about 100 requests for help from local Syrians who are desperately seeking sponsors tobring their relatives to Canada.

Mostof the requests come from new immigrants or former refugees living in the capitalwho don't have the financial means to sponsor their loved ones.

"We are trying to take those individuals and groups and introduce them to local families who want loved ones sponsored," saidLeslie Emory, the organization'sexecutive director.

So far, the organizationhas only been able to match 10 per centof these family-linked cases.

"Theyarein camps, they're fleeing and they need to be brought to a secure place," Emory said.

You don't know when the next explosion will happen ...you don't know if they will come back.NisreenTrad, SyrianCanadian living in Ottawa

Emory said the public may not be aware ofthe organization'smatching program, and thatmoney and the complexity of the privateG5 (group of five)application process may be deterring sponsorship groups from offering help.

Under a G5, sponsors have to raise enough money to house, feed and care for a refugee family for one year.

Many sponsors instead are choosing to look for refugees on the federal government's Blended Visa Office-Referred Program list for economic reasons, because those cases receive six months of government assistance.

Emory said the goal of thematching program is to not just help the refugees overseas, but also provide comfort torelativesbuckling under the weight of worry here in Ottawa.

Danger in Syria

NisreenTrad, 22,was referred toEmory's organizationafter applying for help on theRefugee613website.

Trad said she has endured countless sleepless nights trying to figure out how to get her older brother, Ahmad, and his family to safety.

Nisreen Trad on what her sponsorship group means to her

9 years ago

Duration 0:40

Nisreen Trad is grateful for the help of five local familes who've banded together to bring her brother to Canada.

Ahmad fled to Lebanon from southern Syria with his wife and two children in 2011. As a refugee, it's illegal for him to work in Lebanon, said Trad.

His children aren't allowed to attend school. With their savings, the family could only afford to rent a single cramped room with cracks in the roof and walls, said Trad.

"When it rained outside, it rained inside,"Tradsaid, adding that she isfeeling increasingly frustrated with her inability to help.

Trad, asingle mother with four children under the age of 11, had recently quit her minimum-wage job driving special needs children to return to school in hopes of getting a diploma in social work orearlychildhood education.

She said there was no way she could savethemore than $30,000 required to privately sponsor her brother's family.

Then last fall,Trad'spersonal frustration turned to desperation.

Her brother had fled Syria to escape bombs and terrorists yet that wasexactly the danger he encounteredinBeirut.InNovember, twosuicide bombersdetonated explosives on a busy street in southern part of the Lebanese city.

Ahmadand his son were in themarket buying bread, said Trad, when the blasts shook buildings and killed dozens of people.

"How can I sleep? You don't know when the next explosion will happen. What will happen when they go out of the house? Will they come back?" she said.

'They're angels'

Emory saidthesheermagnitude of the crisis has prevented cases such as Trad'sfrom getting theattentionofCanadian VISA officials.

The United Nations has registered 4.6 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan,but millions more have fled and are unregistered.

Since Ahmadwas one of the refugees living in the city, not in camps, it would have been very difficult for Canadian officials to find him since theydidn't even know he existed.

Shortly after the November explosions, Emory's organization put Trad in touch with a group of potential sponsors.

The group is made up of a several school teachers and administrators. After meeting with her, they committed to raising the money and drafting a settlement plan to bring Ahmad's family to Ottawa.

"They were so nice and helpful and full of love...to bring people from danger. They're angels," Trad said.

Last Friday,Tradreceived a call from her brother. His family had just completed theirfinal medical checks. Visa officials told them they should be on plane to Ottawa by the end of February.