A year ago, they were refugees arriving in Canada, hoping to be welcomed to a new country far from home. Today, this group of Syrian children are singing songs about hope and peace in the House of Commons.
CultureLink's Nai Syrian Children's Choir is performing a noonhour show on Parliament Hill today as a thank you to the country that has given them a second chance. Its members also hope that their message of peace travels back to Syria and will be heard around the world.
Chorister Aaya Mahmoud wants Canadians to know how her young life has been changed since coming to Canada.
After leaving war-torn Syria, "Canada's beautiful and the people here [are] very nice to us," she said.
"I feel happy because I'm with my friends here and I'm singing."
The young choristers, parents and volunteers board an Ottawa-bound bus from Toronto on Wednesday.
It was married musicians Esmaeel Abofakher and Rahaf Alakbani — also recent refugees from Syria — who first brought the children together informally. Abofakher also wrote one of the three songs the choir is set to perform.
"We are singing for peace everywhere — every place in the world — and I feel that it's a very good point to thank Canada for what they did [for] us," he told CBC News on Wednesday, while en route to Ottawa.
The choir began in earnest thanks to Fei Tang, a project consultant for the Toronto settlement agency CultureLink, who also enlisted local music educators to help.
Now, while their parents take English language lessons, the children assemble to learn about music every Wednesday at CultureLink's offices in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood.
The choir rehearses while en route to Ottawa, where the kids are set to perform in the Rotunda at the House of Commons on Thursday. (Eli Glasner/CBC)
The music gives the young participants confidence, helps them learn English and allows them to express difficult emotions, according to Tang.
"Some of them are very aware what's happening [in Syria] and we have quite a few families… from Aleppo. They have cousins, they have family members still there, so it's very sad," she explained.
"They don't worry about a lot of things when they are singing."
While the 26-person choir — whose members range in age from six to 13 — have performed before, including at the Luminato Festival and Toronto's Koerner Hall, they're most excited about singing in Ottawa.
For musician and choir co-founder Abofakher, going to Canada's capital to perform is an important way to express gratitude.
"I'm so glad to be here. Me and my wife, we feel that we have to [be] giving back to our community now," he said.
"They give us a second chance at life here in Canada."
Music gives the young choir members confidence, helps them learn English and allows them to express difficult emotions, according to co-founder Fei Tang. (CBC )
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