Syrian refugee family in Toronto grateful for Canadian welcome

Four months after theylanded atToronto's Pearson airport as part of the Liberal government's pledge to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees here, one family says they'regrateful for the generosity they've received fromCanadians since.

VanigGarabedianand his wife,Anjilik, worked as doctors in Syria for 13 years but eventually fled the violence in the Syrian city ofAleppo along with their three children. Now,a Canadian flag sticks out of a flower pot in theGarabedians'living room andGarabedian said he's already hoping his kids will go to university in this country some day.

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Garabedian said since his family arrived along with 200 other refugees, they've received warm greetings wherever they go.

"Wherever we go we see that Canadian smile," Garabedian told CBC News.

"People are very generous and compassionate and willing to help us."

There will be challenges ahead,Garabediansaid. He said he thinks it will be difficult for himand his wife to find work in their professional field.

His children,12-year-old twinsSylvieandLucieand 11-year-old Anna-Maria, however, have already settled into new schools.

"The kids know they are safe and accepted by everybody and they are happy in their school," he said.

Memories of Aleppo

Garabedianhasn't forgotten the war-torn Aleppo he left behind. In the city, once one of Syria's largest and most successful, he ran his ownclinic andAnjilikrana lab, which they decided to keep open for as long as they could after the war began.

But,Garabediansaid, it became increasingly clear that the life they'd worked hard to build could have been destroyed in seconds.

"The situation we went through was very awful," he said.

"In the end, worse things were happening, we saw rockets hit neighbouring buildings," he said. "Three buildings collapsed immediately and I said that's it, we can't endure that. Maybe the [next] one will be our apartment."

But Garabedian says one positive thing that came out of the war is that his dream of his daughters studying in Canada might come true.