COQUITLAM, B.C. — A memorial service is planned in Vancouver today for two little Syrian boys who drowned in Turkey in a tragedy that has attracted worldwide attention.
A picture of the body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi on a Turkish beach received prominent worldwide attention and has sparked debate about the plight of refugees from the region.
Tima Kurdi of Coquitlam, B-C, says her nephew, his five-year-old brother Ghalib, and their mother, Rehanna, were buried in Syria by her brother, Abdullah, on Thursday.
She says the family was fleeing Syria, where Islamic State militants had beheaded one of her sister-in-law's relatives.
Kurdi says the trip was the "only option" left for the family to have a better life in a European country, possibly Germany or Sweden.
She says Abdullah embarked on the risky journey with his family after a bid by another brother to seek refugees status in Canada failed.
Kurdi says she sent Abdullah five-thousand dollars to pay smugglers to take them on a boat.
Family friends have set up an online fundraising campaign to help the Kurdi family.
NDP AND LIBERALS CALL FOR CANADA TO ACCEPT MORE SYRIAN REFUGEES
OTTAWA — The New Democrats and Liberals say Canada needs to do more to help alleviate the Syrian refugee crisis.
NDP foreign affairs critic Paul Dewar says the NDP will reach out to the Conservative government to ask it to adopt an "accelerated plan" to bring more than 46,000 government-sponsored refugees to Canada by 2019, including 10,000 by the end of 2015.
The NDP plan would involve appointing a Syrian refugee co-ordinator as soon as possible to organize government and departmental resources to facilitate entry and settlement of refugees.
The Liberals, meanwhile, say a Liberal government would expand Canada's intake to 25,000 refugees from Syria through immediate, direct sponsorship by the federal government.
Liberal foreign affairs critic Marc Garneau also says a Liberal government would invest at least an additional $100 million this fiscal year to increase refugee processing, sponsorship and settlement services in Canada.
Immigration Minister Chris Alexander has said Canada will accept 10,000 Syrian refugees over the next three years in response to the UN refugee agency's global appeal to resettle 100,000 refugees worldwide.
Dewar said the NDP plan would also include increasing the number of immigration agencies on the ground, expediting private sponsorships with no cap, providing health care and issuing temporary residence permits for Syrians staying with family.
"We have reached out to the government now because we don't need to wait until (after the federal election) to start this work," Dewar told a news conference in Ottawa on Saturday.
"We're simply saying, let's work together to make a difference here. And that's why we've been very clear that this is not a partisan issue, and that this is about really doing what Canadians expect us to do."
Dewar estimated that the NDP plan would cost $74 million to bring 10,000 refugees to Canada by the end of this year, and another $63.8 million to bring in 9,000 each year until 2019.
"Time and time again, Canadians have responded to humanitarian disasters with generosity," Dewar said.
"It's money well worth investing. I think most people would understand that."
He said he doesn't know how Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government will respond, but that Canada can't afford to wait until the federal election is over to start bringing in its share of refugees as outlined by the United Nations.
Dewar said Canada must do more after François Crepeau, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, asked for the resettlement of one million Syrian refugees over the next five years.
Millions have fled war-ravaged Syria since 2011, but fewer than 2,400 Syrians have been resettled in Canada during the last two years, part of an overall commitment to accept 11,300 people.
Dewar's announcement comes in response to global shock over the drowning deaths of two young Syrian boys and their mother, who apparently wanted to join family in British Columbia.
The incident, along with a disturbing photograph of the body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach, has prompted refugee and human rights advocates to call on the federal government to ease paperwork barriers and boost resources to help Syrian refugees settle in Canada.
B.C. AUNT OF DROWNED SYRIAN BOYS CONTINUING FIGHT TO BRING FAMILY TO CANADA
COQUITLAM, B.C. — The aunt of a drowned Syrian boy whose death has sparked worldwide awareness about the plight of refugees in Europe says she still hopes to bring the rest of her family to Canada.
Tima Kurdi said through tears outside her home in Coquitlam, B.C., that she plans to help her brother, Abdullah, and her other siblings immigrate to the country she made home more than two decades ago.
Abdullah isn't ready to leave the Syrian city where his sons, three-year-old Alan and five-year-old Ghalib, and wife Rehanna were buried on Friday, she said.
Kurdi's two nephews and sister-in-law drowned earlier this week after piling into an overloaded boat in Bodrum, Turkey, headed for he Greek island of Kos. Her brother was among the few survivors.
"We're all emotionally affected by what happened right now," Kurdi said, surrounded by framed photos of her nephews. "I'm sure he (will) refuse and he doesn't want to leave Kobani," she said referring to the family's Syrian hometown, which they attempted to escape.
"But one day, I will bring him here. He cannot be by himself there."
Kurdi has previously said she wanted to bring both her brothers to Canada, but she applied first for her eldest sibling Mohammad, whose application was rejected because it was incomplete.
Kurdi said Mohammad's failed application prompted Abdullah to embark on the risky journey with his family. She said she sent him $5,000 to pay smugglers to take them in a boat.
Asked whether her brother blames himself, Kurdi said no.
"I am the one who should be at blame," she said. "I blame myself because my brother does not have money. I sent him the money to pay the smuggler. If I didn't send him the money, those people still (would be) alive."
She said the trip was the "only option" left for the family to have a better life in a European country, possibly Germany or Sweden.
They were fleeing horrors in Syria, where ISIS militants had beheaded one of her sister-in-law's relatives. Kurdi said her brother had emailed her a photo of the murder but she deleted it because it was too horrific.
Abdullah knew of the dangers, including the risk of smugglers using fake life-jackets, she said, adding he had planned to pay 2,000 euros each for him and his wife to board a safer jet boat, compared to 1,200 euros for a rubber boat. There was no fee for the two boys.
Photos of Alan's lifeless body on a beach in Turkey have put Canada's refugee policy in the spotlight amid the federal election, though Kurdi said she doesn't blame the Canadian government.
She said she hopes Citizenship and Immigration Canada stops requiring a document missing from Mohammad's application because it's impossible for people to secure the necessary paperwork in the midst of a crisis in Syria.
Kurdi said she hadn't heard from anyone in the federal government since the heartbreaking photo of her dead nephew jolted the world earlier this week.
Family friends have set up an online fundraising campaign to help the Kurdi family. A memorial for the boys will also be held in Vancouver on Saturday.
Kurdi spoke to both her brothers by phone on Friday and watched emotional video on CNN of her two young nephews being buried in Kobani.
She said she desperately wished she could be there with her brother to say goodbye.
"Abdullah said to me, 'I don't want you to come. It's dangerous,'" she said, weeping. "I (could) stay there for the rest of my life, sitting beside their grave, feed them, give them water."
Her grieving brother is proud of his kids for becoming a symbol of the dire situation facing Syrian refugees, and hopes to see leaders step in to end human smuggling, Kurdi said.
"He said, 'I don't need anything from this world anymore. What I have is gone.' But my kids, and my wife, it's a wake-up call for the world. And hopefully they step in and help others."
