Tareq Chehadeh and wife, Merna, smile as they host recently arrived family members for a Christmas celebration.Sarah Mongeau-Birkett
The brothers were torn apart by war. They were brought back together by one brother's love, and a country – Canada – willing to help them.
Beneath shiny garlands and a blinking star atop a Christmas tree, the four Chehadeh brothers, their wives and their children gathered in a suburban Montreal living room on Friday to mark a miracle of sorts. After years of turmoil and displacement, of fear and uncertainty, three of the brothers and their families from Syria landed in Canada late this year to start rebuilding their lives.
Two brothers arrived on a commercial flight Nov. 17. One arrived on a military flight Dec. 12. The fourth brother, a Montrealer who sponsored them, was on the ground each time to greet them. And on Friday, the four brothers – Tareq, Sohail, Wael and Mousa – celebrated Christmas together under the same roof for the first time in six years.
"This was my dream, to get my whole family here," 45-year-old Tareq said. "It means everything to know they are safe and secure. I want to give them a chance in life, and I know that Canada is the best place to do that."
Tareq's wife, Merna, compared the four to children who needed a mother to embrace them. "Canada is the mother," she said, "the mother that could bring all the families together."
And so, on a snow-free Christmas day on a curving street in Laval, north of Montreal, 15 members of the extended Chehadeh clan, ages 5 to 51, squeezed onto couches in Tareq and Merna's living room. The children reached into crisp gift bags prepared by Merna to pull out child-sized knapsacks they will use when they begin school in January, after years of disruption in their schooling.
It was an act of family kindness played out in Canadian homes across the country over the holidays. Yet it took the single-minded determination and generosity of Tareq Chehadeh to make it happen.
Tareq arrived penniless in Montreal with a civil engineering degree from Damascus University in 2002. He found work at minimum wage as a manual labourer in a textile factory in Montreal, persuading the manager to let him work part-time so he could go to school. He obtained a master's degree in engineering from Concordia University. He picked up lessons that he shared with his brothers before they headed for Canada.
"The unknown can scare you, but be brave. You can't succeed if you don't try," Tareq told them. "People in Canada are generous and kind, and this land and society are open to everybody. Go forward, don't look back, and you will succeed."
Tareq became a senior project manager at engineering giant SNC-Lavalin in Montreal, until he was laid off six months ago. Regardless of his own hardships, he has devoted himself to helping settle his brothers, who were forced to flee to Lebanon a year ago when the chaos in Syria left them fearing for their safety. A sister in Lebanon, also sponsored by Tareq, is due to arrive in Montreal early next year.
Tareq and Merna have been working from early morning to late at night to help each brother get on his feet, registering the children in school, filling out government paperwork, looking for apartments to rent, hunting down affordable, used furniture. Two brothers are living with them until they find housing.
Tareq managed to find a job for one brother, Sohail, only two weeks after he arrived in Canada; Sohail, who was a sales representative for Samsung in Syria, is working in the butcher department at Adonis, a popular supermarket chain. The brothers are all getting signed up for French-language classes. They are eager to start contributing to Canadian society.
As they prepared to sit down to a festive meal of kibbeh, shakriya and tabouleh, with wine to toast their good fortune, the Chehadeh brothers took stock of the new land that has greeted them. The last time they marked Christmas together was when Tareq was able to fly to Syria in 2009.
Wael, who had been a film lighting specialist in Syria, had heard about Canada's record on human rights and its belief in equality before he emigrated. Since arriving, he has been struck by how respectfully he has been treated by public officials. He marvels at the abundance of birds and squirrels he sees in the park across the street from Tareq's house. Wael is even impressed by how well people on the street treat their dogs. If they treat their animals so well, he mused, it tells you how well they treat their fellow human beings.
But Wael saved his biggest praise for his older brother, Tareq, whose persistence brought the Chehadehs together. Tareq's beard may be too short, his brother said, but as far as his spirit of giving, he really was the family's Santa.