By Ashley Wills

Syrian woman in Saskatoon shares refugee experience

Sep 3, 2015 | 6:02 PM

A Syrian woman living in Saskatoon says it’s her mission to talk on behalf of the people who didn’t get the chance to be safe or build a new life like she did.
 
“It’s a big start for us,” Doha Kharsa said during World Refugee Day this past June.
 
“I got the opportunity for my kids to continue their studies after we lost it.”

The mother of six arrived in Canada with her kids, ranging in age from two to 19, in November 2014.

“It is very important to tell people about our experience and our difficulties of being refugees. In the past I just hear the word refugee, but I didn’t know what this means.”

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper teared up Thursday as he spoke about a young Syrian boy and two family members who drowned while trying to get to Greece from Turkey.

At a news conference in B.C., Harper said Canada has one of the most generous refugee systems in the world, and they will continue to do more.

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But he added that accepting refugees is not the only solution – the military mission against ISIS must continue to help those who are still in Syria.

New Democrat leader Tom Mulcair said Canada has to immediately agree to a United Nations request to take in 10,000 refugees while Liberal leader Justin Trudeau is repeating his pledge to boost that number to 25,000.
 
Kharsa said refugees face many challenges. Before her family arrived in Canada, they were refugees in Malaysia, where Kharsa didn’t have the right to work and her children didn’t have the right to study.

 – With files from The Canadian Press

awills@ckom.com

Twitter @Ashwillsee