[Photo credit: Canadian Immigration and Citizenship Facebook page]

For a collection of Syrian refugees in St. John's, it's been roughly a year since they arrived in Canada. In a special series called "In Their Own Words", Canadian Immigration and Citizenship profiled refugees living across Canada and allowed them to tell their stories. 

You can read the stories of those in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador below and find the rest of the stories here. 

“We fled our home of Syria and arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador in January 2016 through Lebanon. Our biggest surprise when we came to Canada was the cold weather, too much snow. Our biggest challenge so far has been the language but I (Safaa) am much more comfortable at communicating in English than Khalid. Khalid has a bit of a hearing disability and requires more courses but he’s doing very well. He was able to work part-time this summer as a gardener. I want to go back to school and study nursing.

We have two boys and one girl. Our children love their new school at Bishop Abraham Elementary School and one child even wants to become a doctor to go back to Syria and help out there.

The people of Canada are so kind and generous with us. We were afraid of coming to Canada at first because some people in Lebanon were saying that we would be all put together in shelters and camps and continue suffering as refugees here also. We are thrilled that wasn’t the case. The people of St. John’s are great and there is also a good community, connecting us with the Arabic and Muslim community.”

—Khalid and Safaa, refugees from Syria, are learning English and are grateful for the help from the community in St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.

[Photo credit: Canadian Immigration and Citizenship Facebook page]

“I’m from Syria came in through Turkey and arrived in St. John’s, Newfoundland in January 2016. Back in Syria, I was a public employee, working in the telecommunications industry and I also had my own business, in the trades of clothing and carpets to support my family. What I was earning from my public employee job wasn’t enough to support my wife and three kids.

From the minute I arrived here, I have found nothing but support. All the people here are just trying to help. I am very thankful to the Canadian people as well as the Canadian government for supporting my family. The greatest blessing has been that there is no discrimination, no difference between white or black or any other colour or between poor and rich people. Everyone is equal. Also, the language teachers in school are doing an amazing job to make us understand or learn. If someone doesn’t understand something, the teachers take their time to repeat it until they understand the point. It’s very appreciated.

I have been offered full-time jobs in Canada but I want to concentrate on my language classes. I would be interested in getting some kind of part time job so I can work for a few hours and attend English school.“

—Salih, a refugee from Syria, is happy to be attending language instruction classes in St. John’s, Newfoundland.