Alia’s Voice is a happy-ending refugee story that will make you proud of being a Canadian.
Alia, her husband and four children arrived at the Toronto Airport in 2016, part of a wave of Syrian refugees. She spoke one word of English: ‘hello.’ Three years later, she addressed a women’s group in Oakville, telling her story in English, and kept her audience spellbound. She is now a proud Canadian citizen, an assistant-manager in a store in Mississauga. Find out more about this remarkable woman, and how her Canadian friends helped the family to build a new life.
Reader comments about Alia’s Voice
Hon. John McCallum, formerly Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.
This book provides a well deserved tribute to immigration staff at the time of welcoming Syrian refugees. Indeed, so many Canadians pulled above their weight at this time – all the provincial governments that welcomed refugees so warmly, federal and provincial civil servants, immigrant sponsors, and all the settlement agencies, generally the best in the world, that worked incredibly hard to make everything come together.
Rev. Dr. Karen Horst, Moderator of the 141st General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in Canada
I have stood with Syrian refugees trapped in frigid temperatures due to the sudden closure of Hungarian borders. I have met with Syrian refugees in Lebanon who face many restrictions because of their heritage. The displacement of people around the world, and the need to take flight from war and conflict, is a stain on humanity in general. The statistics are staggering and the politics so complex that many feel overwhelmed by the realities. Ann McRae’s book Alia’s Voice; A Syrian Refugee in Canada helps us to break through our immobilization as we learn of one sponsorship story. We are exposed to the courage, tenacity and resilience of a refugee family and, in particular, through the personal and cultural adjustments of the wife, Alia. McRae also exposes us to the voices of those who performed grassroots assistance in the sponsorship of this family, skillfully reminding us again that each of us can make a profound difference in the lives of others by simple, sensitive and steady acts of kindness.
Yup, I cried. -H.
What a wonderful book. It does a great job of inviting people to understand the process without being overwhelmed by its complexity. – K.
Lovely story… — A.
I thoroughly enjoyed Alia’s Voice. It opened a new perspective for me on some of our new Canadians. The range of emotions from fear or unknown – and really completely unknown – to the hope of something better for her children, to the immense gratitude she has for the people who helped them, to the elation of mastering a new language and things like driving was poignant and I was grateful to be able to understand a little bit of that. I always hope that I can internalize the lessons and that it makes me more compassionate and understanding for people around me!
Thank you for writing! – Paul Pinkerton, Brantford.