If anyone can relate to the tens of thousands of Albertans who were recently forced to flee their homes in a hurry ahead of the devastating Fort McMurray wildfires, it's probably Syrian refugees.
They are all too familiar with the painful trauma of abandoning just about everything in search of a safe place for their families.
“It's not easy to lose everything. We can understand them more than anyone in Canada. We were in the same situation,” said Syrian refugee Rita Khanchet, who lives in Calgary, about Fort McMurray evacuees in a recent interview with the Calgary Herald.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise then — except maybe to those Canadians who were, and in some cases sadly still are, against allowing Syrian refugees to enter our country over largely unfounded fears — that many of these people wanted nothing more than to pay it forward as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
“Me and my family wanted to do something for these people. Canadian society helped us when we came to Canada,” Khanchet was quoted as saying by the Herald.
Additional offers of help came in mere hours after she made an appeal through social media to others within the wider community of Syrian refugees in Calgary, the Herald reported.
“We understand what they're feeling. When you lose everything, you have to start from zero. You lose your memories, your items. It's not easy. It's something very sad. We can totally understand their feeling,” Khanchet said.
“We are very thankful to the Canadian people and we want to be a part of this society. We will do our best to be a good part of this society. By doing that, maybe we can return a little bit of the great job that Canadian people did for us.”
The CBC also reported on Syrian refugees in Edmonton who wanted to extend a helping hand to those Canadians whose lives were turned upside down by the wildfires.
This should all go to make one thing unquestionably clear — welcoming refugees is not only the humane thing to do, but it's also overall far more beneficial to our society in the long run. One good turn deserves another.
Whereas hard-line positions like limiting or even outright banning refugees would serve little more than to tarnish our country's otherwise good reputation around the world, opening our doors sends the international community a loud message.
Regardless of where a person is from, he or she is welcome here and will be extended the opportunity to become part of Canada's robust, as well as demographically diverse, social fabric.
Simon Ducatel is the editor of the Sundre Round Up.
