Syrian-Canadians fear long arm of regime
As violence in Syria swells, Syrian-Canadian activists say they don’t feel safe voicing their opposition to President Bashar Assad’s government, even on Canadian soil.
Essam Hallak is one of them. He still hasn’t told his parents about what happened to their home in the Syrian city of Aleppo recently.
“I want to break it to them gently,” Hallak said from his office at Concordia University in Montreal. “It holds all the memories of their marriage 45 years ago.”
Last Thursday, in an encrypted Skype chat with relatives, the assistant geography professor learned Syrian security forces had ransacked his childhood home.
“The door was broken in. They stole computers, anything with files and documents and smashed all the things around,” he said. “I had a lot of fond things there that were very dear to me.”
This wasn’t the first time the intruders had visited. Since he started to organize and attend anti-Assad protests in Ottawa and Montreal, security forces called on his parents several times with increasing aggression, Hallak said.
“Intelligence came with machine guns and pistols and interrogated them about my activities in Canada,” he said. “It was very intimidating for my 74-year-old parents.”
So they fled.
His parents — travelling under the pretence of helping Hallak organize his wedding — arrived in Montreal in October.