Did tears well as you watched Governor General David Johnston greet one of the first groups of Syrian refugees to land at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson airport; exhausted, no doubt confused, but oh so glad to be beyond the reach of the civil war tearing apart their beloved country?
It was a chilly December day, in 2015. The sky was overcast when Tareq Hadhad, the family’s eldest son and a medical student, arrived in the airport waiting area.
‘The Canadian people welcome you very warmly,’ the Governor General told him.
An important day, yet even in his wildest dreams Tareq could have no idea just how far those dreams would take him and his family; from refugees fleeing all they had known to end up in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, there to find not only support and friendship but the realisation they could rebuild their family business of making chocolate in their new –– and very different home.
Hadhad Chocolate, started by family patriarch Isam Hadhad in Syria, was well known in that country and across the Middle East. But when the factory became a pile of burning rubble during the civil war the family were forced to flee with just the clothes on their backs. Peace by Chocolate is its worthy successor and word is spreading fast as Canadians across this country try the company’s many sweet confections.
PEACE BY CHOCOLATE is also the title of the Hadhad story; from their idyllic life in the ancient city of Damascus, then as refugees fleeing for their lives, to their eventual acceptance for admission to Canada. Sad and sometimes harrowing, it is testament to the strength a loving family possesses, giving its members the endurance to overcome seemingly impossible odds. Placing this very personal story in context are chapters devoted to the history of the city they fled as well as the province that is now their home and where they have rebuilt their lives. The reader also learns how chocolate is made starting with the cocoa tree!
It is not only a ‘good read’ but shows what it is really like to be a refugee. In doing so Peace by Chocolate illustrates one of today’s most heart-breaking problems, that of the huge shifting of populations escaping war, discrimination and poverty in search of a better life. This would be an excellent read for a book club; there is so much to discuss.
Author Jon Tattrie is the author of five non-fiction books and two novels. He is a CBC News journalist and has taught at the University of King's College and Dalhousie University. He also teaches privately.
He heard about the arrival of the Hadhads through a work colleague. ‘It was such a compelling story.’ Fascinated, he met the family and gradually learned about their years’ long journey –– the rest is history.
Not every family fleeing persecution war or both, has the opportunity to rebuild their business as the Hadhads have done, but it is safe to say that such stories of refugees fleeing the countries of their birth to make their new home in Canada are far more widespread than we think.
Consider Abdul Fatah Sabouni who rebuilt his family’s 100-year-old soap making tradition to become Aleppo Soaps of Calgary, or Kameel Nasrawi, founder of The Migrant, Canada’s first Syrian and Arab community newspaper. Then there are political refugees Karina and Zeeshan Hayat who fled Guatemala to found the multi-million dollar marketing company Prizm Media.
And don’t forget cabinet ministers, Maryam Monsef originally from Afganistan and Ahmed Hussen who came here from Somalia via Kenya.
Whether creating successful businesses or quietly rebuilding their family’s shattered lives refugees are injecting energy into the working world as well as an appreciation for the country that gave them refuge.
