Duane Hicks
A last-minute hitch has delayed the arrival of a second Iraqi refugee family here.
The Canoon family, consisting of Rami, his wife, Fivyan, and their two daughters, Fbaana and Oryana, were scheduled to arrive in Thunder Bay yesterday.
But they received notice the day before leaving that their flights had been cancelled, Kathy Mueller of the local “Families for Families” committee told the Times.
Like the Al-Zeebaree family, which arrived here late last month, the Canoons are from Iraq but have been living in Lebanon.
“Apparently they had not received their exit papers from the Lebanon government in time to depart,” Mueller explained.
“Because they have lived in the country as refugees and were not paying taxes, they have to pay money upon exiting for using the privileges of citizens,” she noted.
“They did pay but the papers required to leave were not ready.”
Mueller called the news “so disappointing” to the volunteers who eagerly have been anticipating the Canoon family’s arrival and have prepared an apartment–complete with furnishings–for them to live in.
“Again we wait. But I’m sure their waiting is much more difficult,” she reasoned.
“We will be ready for them when they come.”
Mueller said she has “no idea” as to exactly how soon they will be able to come here.
“It doesn’t usually take too long to get the permit because the money has been paid, but we have no way of knowing,” she remarked.
As previously reported, the Al-Zeebaree family also is waiting the Canoons to join them.
Rami is the brother of Julia Al-Zeebaree, the mother of that first family.
