Weeks after a devastating earthquake left tens of thousands of people dead in Syria and Turkiye, a Syrian-Canadian woman is breathing a sigh of relief after her older sister arrived in Canada this week.
Amal Shwikh, a resident of Mississauga, Ont., and herself a refugee, had been working since 2021 to sponsor her stepsister, Zahra, to come to Canada.
With the security and medical checks completed, all she had left to do was wait for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada to issue the required travel documents for her sister.
Then the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck, destroying the seven-storey building in Urfa, Turkiye, that her sister, a Syrian refugee, and other refugees had been living in.
Shwikh spoke to CTV National News Ottawa Correspondent Judy Trinh last month about Zahra's situation.
A Change.org petition set up to help bring Zahra to Canada reported this week that she was able to secure the necessary travel documents.
Zahra finally flew out of Turkiye, leaving from Istanbul and landing in Toronto on Tuesday evening, Shwikh told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Thursday.
"I'm very happy and I feel like I'm dreaming," Shwikh said, adding that the same can be said for her sister.
"She's very happy and she wants to thank everyone (who) helped her."
In the aftermath of the earthquake, Shwikh said it was difficult to reach her sister, who struggled to find internet and power to charge her phone.
Now that her sister is in Canada, Shwikh says she would also like to bring her mother who is living in a camp in Syria, a country still wracked by its yearslong civil war.
On Feb. 24, federal Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said in a statement on Twitter that not only would Canada match donations for Syria and Turkiye relief, his department would give "priority to affected individuals for temporary, PR & refugee applications."
"We're monitoring the situation and will adjust our approach accordingly," Fraser said.
With files from CTV National News Ottawa Correspondent Judy Trinh and The Associated Press
