Meet Fadi
Fadi is a youth facilitator and theatre actor who is passionate about making a difference in communities through the arts. He is also an advocate for the rights and freedoms of the LGBTQI+ community.
Fadi is from Old Damascus, Syria where he worked as a video editor and was enrolled in theatre studies at the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts. As the Syrian civil war intensified, he was forced to leave the country and emigrated to Lebanon in 2017.
Assisted by the Canadian Embassy and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Fadi came to Canada in July 2021. After short stays in Toronto and Windsor, he chose to live in Hamilton. The city was recommended for having a thriving arts scene where he could grow as an artist.
Migration Context:
Syria has produced the world’s largest ongoing refugee crisis. More than 6.6 million Syrians have fled their country since 2011, and another 6.7 million people are displaced within the country. The vast majority – approximately 5.5 million refugees – have found refuge in neighbouring countries, primarily in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.
Turkey hosts the largest number of registered Syrian refugees—currently 3.6 million people. More than a million Syrian refugees are in Lebanon, where daily life is often a struggle. About 70% live below the poverty line. There are no formal refugee camps and, as a result, Syrians are scattered throughout urban and rural communities and locations, often sharing small basic lodgings with other refugee families in overcrowded conditions.
The Government of Canada resettled 25,000 Syrian refugees between November 2015 and February 29, 2016, including government-supported and privately sponsored refugees. By the end of 2020, close to 45,000 Syrians had been resettled in Canada.
More than 1,400 Syrians moved to Hamilton in late 2015 and early 2016, more than half of them children. Hamilton has experienced ongoing Syrian arrivals since 2016.