The White Helmet rescuer hopes to bring her friend from earthquake-hit Turkey to Canada

Maysoon al-Masri, a journalist and former White Helmets journalist from Syria, came to Canada in 2018 with other White Helmets volunteers and their families.

Maysoon al-Masri was at her home in Hamilton when she learned of the devastating earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northwest Syria last month. She immediately texted her best friend, Amal Salamat, who lives in that part of Turkey, but there was no response.

The two bonded while working together on a women’s union in Syria during the civil war. While exchanging tips on how to protect themselves from the bombing, they have grown closer and now consider each other like family. For years, Ms. Masri had hoped she could bring her friend to join her in Canada. The night of the earthquake, she couldn’t sleep.

Ms. Masri, a member of the famous Syrian White Helmets group, came to Canada in 2018 along with other White Helmets volunteers and their families – as part of an international effort that Canada helped lead. The White Helmets are known for their humanitarian search and rescue operations, in response to the devastation wrought by the Bashar al-Assad regime and Russia.

When she and her husband left Syria – first to a refugee camp in Jordan and later to Canada – they encouraged their friend Ms. Salamat, who was not part of the White Helmets, to go to opposition-held Idlib, where it would be safer. . From there, Sayyida Salamat made her way to Antakya in southern Turkey.

For the past few years, I have tried to build a life in Antakya, working for a Syrian organization and as a journalist. But Mrs. Masri remembers saying she was not fond of the place. “She said she had a bad feeling that something was going to happen. … But no one knew it was going to be an earthquake.”

For Ms. Al-Masry, bringing her best friend safely to Canada is the closest thing she can get to being reunited with her family Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake, earthquake and aftershocks that struck Turkey and Syria in February killed more than 50,000 people. Antakya was one of the hardest hit cities, with dozens of residential buildings completely destroyed.

Mrs. Al-Masry finally heard from Mrs. Salamat days later. Her house was destroyed, but she was fine. Now, the two women hope it won’t be long before they can rebuild their lives again, this time in Canada.

Shortly after Ms. Masri arrived at Hamilton in 2018, she met Julianne Burgess, a teacher who has taught English to newcomers for more than 25 years. Ms. Burgess was also part of a group that privately sponsored a refugee family to come to Canada in the past.

Ms. Al-Masry thought it best not to ask her new friend to help bring Ms. Salamat to Canada the first time they met – but she asked the second time.

“I told her, ‘I have a girlfriend and we have to bring her to Canada because Amal is part of our life, like family,’” said Ms. Al-Masry, 47.

Ms. Burgess and her friend contacted every group in the area that could sponsor refugees through the federal government’s special sponsorship program. Ottawa has sponsorship agreements with groups that help resettle refugees to Canada. They are often religious, ethnic or humanitarian organizations that support the refugees they care for either on their own or working with groups or individuals.

The efforts of Mrs. Burgess and her group came to a halt when the pandemic hit and travel was nearly halted. But last year, they finally found a group that agreed to help care for Mrs. Al Salamat – Gateway Church in Caledonia, Ontario.

Ms Burgess told The Globe and Mail the church calls it its “religious mandate”.

But now that Mrs. Salamat’s home has been razed to the ground by an earthquake, the urgency to bring her here is greater than ever.

Ms. Selamat, 46, said in an interview from a friend’s home in Ankara that her home was destroyed and she had nowhere to go. She said, “I don’t have a home.”

Although she has legal documents issued by the Turkish government that allow her to stay in the country, she no longer has a place to live in the province where she is registered and fears she will be deported.

“After the earthquake, the Syrian refugees, there is no place for them,” she said.

Ms. Burgess said the papers for Ms. Salamat were submitted to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada in December, and she hopes the government will expedite her application.

Ottawa said it would expedite visa applications for those in quake-affected areas.

Stuart Isherwood, a spokesperson for the Department of Immigration, said that due to privacy rules, he could not comment on individual cases. However, he said they are giving priority to applications for temporary and permanent residence and refugees from earthquake-affected people.

“The clock is ticking hopefully” because of her situation, Ms. Burgess said, adding that she worries about the risk of deportation, and what will happen if Ms. Salamat tries to leave on her own.

“We’re really concerned that desperate people will do desperate things, like head to the Mediterranean, with catastrophic consequences,” said Ms Burgess. If that happens, the Canadian government will have blood on their hands. And … I think that as concerned Canadians, if we remain silent and do nothing, we will also have blood on our hands.”

For Ms. Al-Masry, bringing her best friend to Canada is the closest thing she can get to being reunited with her family. She still has some relatives in Syria, but was separated from them because the police kept asking them about her work with the White Helmets and how she got to Canada.

I have had to do this for their own safety. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to them because I knew the Assad regime would.”

Mrs. Al-Masry and 11 members of her family were killed by the regime forces. In 2013, a sniper killed her brother near the family home. She heard gunfire, but she and her family could do nothing to help him. His death prompted her to join the White Helmets.

She said Canada helped give her and her husband a second life – and she hopes it will do the same for Mrs. Salamat.

“She is like my sister and my family… and she needs to be in a safe place,” said Ms. Al-Masry.

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